I've Just Seen a Face
by Phantom Creedy Lover
Summary: Nick was only helping out a woman in a bar. He didn't know she would turn out to be Sara's replacement, let alone her sister. Now what happens when a killer is after the sisters and starts to target everyone close to them? NickOC, GSR, hint of GregRonnie
1. New Girl in Town

**A/N: Okay, just to start, I have appearances for the main OC's I have in here:  
Cassandra Sidle: Molly Sims  
Jake Thompson: Nathan Fillion  
Max Schmidt: Sam Rockwell  
Josh Summers: Ethan Hawke  
Lynn Thompson: Anna Friel**  
**I don't own CSI, so on and so forth, enjoy. **

**---**

Nick Stokes looked around the small bar he was in. The bar had become an escape from work. That Toby Keith song "I Love This Bar" fit this one. There were all types around the place, and Nick loved observing each and every one. It got his mind off of the horrid things he had to see on a near daily basis. Earlier that day, he had watched a man get shot right in front of him, and he was shaking off the event by having a couple of drinks in peace.

Usually business was slow, but there was a couple arguing a couple of feet behind him behind him, making the experience anything but peaceful. The man had blonde hair and the woman had light brown hair. The fight was getting louder and louder by the minute. By the sound of the man slurring his words, he was drunk, when the woman, his girlfriend or wife, or hooker, whichever it was, was sober. Nick glanced around, seeing if anyone was paying attention to the fight. Only a handful of people were. This was Vegas, after all. A fight in a bar was an everyday occurrence. Most of them were just minding their own business. After a while of hearing the woman try and reason with the man, and the man's language getting more and more vulgar, Nick couldn't take it anymore. He could sense it was about to get out of hand. He sighed and put his drink down, ready to step in when the moment was right.

"You lying _WHORE_!" the man's voice practically broke with the volume of the insult.

Before Nick knew it, something had slammed into his back. He turned to catch whatever had hit him before it fell, finding it was the woman on the receiving end of the verbal attack. He glanced at her, seeing that she was holding the back of her hand to her mouth. Nick caught sight of a small spot of blood on her lip_. The bastard hit her_. Nick realized, and contained a growl. Arguing was one thing, but hitting a woman was another. He slid off his stool and bent over. "You alright?" he asked her.

The woman shot him a look that Nick clearly read meant 'What do you think?'. However, she shook her head. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Nick pressed his lips together, then helped her up. "Come on." He waited for her to right herself before turning to the man in question. "Hey man, don't you think that was a little much? Hittin' a lady? What's that about."

"Shut up, moron! Stay out of my business! She ain't much of a woman, anyway." The man snapped. "Buzz off 'fore I call the cops."

The woman snorted behind him.

"I'm a C.S.I, pal. I _am_ the cops. It IS my business since I can charge you for assault," Nick replied. "Now get lost and leave the girl alone."

Josh glared at Nick before looking at the woman and pointing at her. "This isn't over." he threatened before he turned towards the door and left.

There was a dead silence that lasted a couple of moments before a few of the patrons clapped for Nick, shouting things along the lines of "you told him!" and whatnot. The bartender came over and handed him another beer after thanking him for cleaning up a potential issue. Nick mumbled a thank you, figuring it was no time for heavy appreciation. He turned back to where he had left the woman, to find she hadn't moved from the spot, but just turned to face the table and was now staring at the surface. He took a deep breath, then walked and sat beside her.

After a few moments of silence, she set a sideways glance at him. "…I'm never really good at this, so uh… thanks."

Nick smiled. "No problem." He stared at his drink, then it was his turn to speak up. "Mind telling me what that was about?" he asked.

The woman shook her head. "Why not? You got me out of it." She turned to face him. "That was my boyfriend Josh. He's been on edge lately, and I was out of town seeing my sister about a job I have to take over for her, and he jumped to a conclusion that I was cheating on him."

Nick masked his surprise about getting the whole story. He didn't see that coming. "Huh," Nick nodded, understanding her situation, then observed the right side of her face, which was turning pink from getting hit. "Hey, do you want ice on that?"

The woman shook her head. "No. It'll clear up by tomorrow. It always does, and-" she cut herself off and blushed, looking back down.

Nick frowned. " 'It always does'? Has he done this to you before?"

"A while ago, he did. He stopped for a while. He hasn't done it in ages."

"And you stayed with him this whole time?" Nick asked.

"No. We've been off and on over a few years. We've lived together for a while, and any time he got abusive like that, I went to my sister's for a while, but I've said too much just saying that. I'm telling a good amount of my life's story to a total stranger." She replied.

Nick's frown deepened. He hated when a woman was being abused by her boyfriend and they barely did anything about it. "Well, I just said I was a C.S.I. I can help with this… I know it's personal, but I'd like to help. I'm sorry I stuck my neck out in your business, I'm just not a big fan of this kind of stuff happening. That's part of my job." He explained. "As for the stranger bit…" He offered his hand. "I'm Nick."

"Cassandra." The woman replied. "And 'as for' the job comment, don't I know it."

Nick tilted his head. "Huh?"

"I'm a C.S.I myself down in Reno, but I'm in the works of getting transferred." Cassandra replied.

"Ah, Reno. Tough place." Nick took a drink from his beer glass, then set it down.

Cassandra nodded. "You're not kidding, and don't worry about imposing. It's nice seeing someone actually stand up for me. I can usually defend myself, I just wasn't expecting it this time."

"I believe you, and I'm glad to see my help's appreciated." Nick replied with a smile.

The two talked for a while and got to know each other- well, as much as they could, only knowing each other's first names. Nick had offered her his phone number in case of another incident like the one earlier that night, which she had gladly accepted. However, both of them forgot one important thing before going their separate ways.

--

"I didn't ask for her last name, and I didn't even leave mine on the paper I put my number on for her!" Nick complained to his best friend Warrick Brown, as they started climbing the hill towards their new crime scene.

"What a shame," Warrick replied with playful sarcasm. "That's a shocker since you won't shut up about her."

Nick laughed. "Come on, man. I was _proud of myself_. I just helped her out on my own! How was I supposed to remember to add my last name? We were talking so much I didn't even realize I didn't give it to her!"

"Well, then I'd love to meet her and see what _she_ thought of _you_ if you're like _this_." Warrick said before looking down at the crime scene since they reached it. He frowned, seeing that they now had to go down a sharp incline to get to the large hole in the ground that their victim was in. They slid most of the way down, trying to get their footing and failing miserably a good percent of the time. When they reached the bottom, Nick stumbled a bit and caught himself in front of someone. He looked up and could only stare at the person- rather woman's face. "Uh… Warrick?"

"Yeah?" Warrick asked, coming next to him.

"I think you're able to meet her." Nick replied.

"Really? Why's that?" Warrick asked, glancing at the brunette in front of them.

"You're looking at her." Nick replied, and then smiled at Cassandra, who was looking back at him with a smile on her face, her arms crossed over her chest. "You again! I thought you said you worked in Reno!" He offered.

"I did, and I also said that I was gonna get transferred- transferred _here_, thanks to my sister. I take this is also your crime scene?" she asked.

"Ah. Interesting. You could've told me that you were transferring here." Nick pointed out.

"Well, I told you most of my adult life story. I figured this could be left out." Cassandra replied.

Nick shrugged. "Touché."

Warrick cleared his throat.

Nick didn't seem to notice. He was just smiling at Cassandra.

Warrick elbowed him.

Nick snapped out of it. "Oh, right, sorry. Cassandra, this is Warrick Brown, one of the guys I told you about last night. Warrick, this is Cassandra, the girl I was telling you about just now." Nick introduced them.

Warrick nodded and smiled out of the corner out of his mouth, shaking her hand. "How you doin'?"

Cassandra chuckled. "I'm fine."

Warrick studied her. "So, from what Nick tells me, you never got his last name, and he never got yours."

"That's true." Cassandra nodded. "So, might as well start then, huh?"

Nick nodded. "I'm Nick _Stokes_."

"Cassandra Sidle." Cassandra replied. She frowned, seeing the looks of amusement drop and be replaced by shock. "What?"

"Sidle? Like… Sara Sidle?" Nick choked out.

"Yeah. She's my sister that I mentioned last night." Cassandra replied.

Nick and Warrick looked at each other, then laughed once before looking at her. "Were you transferred to Gil Grissom's team?"

"Mm hm. Sara's special request." Cassandra replied.

Warrick chuckled. "She would."

Nick nodded in agreement.

Cassandra smiled weakly, then gasped. "Oh, that reminds me. Is Grissom around? Sara asked me to give him something…" She fished around in her pockets, then finally got what she was looking for: a folded up piece of paper.

Nick looked around. "Don't see him now, but he should be around soon. Just wait a bit. He'll show up."

"Sounds good to me." Cassandra replied.

The three did wait, and sure enough, Gil Grissom appeared over the ledge a short time later. After making it down the incline, he reached them, eyes set on Cassandra. "Ah, hello. You must be Cassandra, then." He paused, then threw caution to the wind. "Sara's little sister."

Cassandra smiled and nodded. "Gil Grissom, I presume?"

Gil nodded identically to her. "At your service."

Cassandra held up the paper. "This may not be the right time to do it, but… this is from Sara. It's a note to you, as well as my recommendation letter."

Gil shrugged. "One of the women on this team, you'll meet later once said 'The dead can wait'. Let's see it." He tried extremely hard to hide his eagerness, but to Nick and Warrick's surprise, it showed, ever so slightly.

Cassandra nodded and handed the paper over to him.

Gil unfolded it carefully, then ran his fingers gently over the creases to smooth them as much as possible. Nick and Warrick exchanged looks before peaking over Gil's shoulder to read what Sara had to say.

_My Dearest Gil-_

_You know just as well as I do that I trust Ronnie in this job, it's just… I feel you could use someone with more experience. You'll be hearing from my sister soon about being my replacement on the jobs. She's already a C.S.I in Reno, and in my opinion, she's one of the best out there. She's two years younger than me, and I feel she's better than me at the job. I wouldn't trust anyone but her to replace me on the team and take care of you and my other boys, and girls, for that matter. Please give her a chance on your team. She won't disappoint. She's having a rough time with her life right now, and this may be the perfect way to let her escape and start fresh. She needs a new start as much as I do. Trust me. I know what I'm doing, and so does she. Give her a chance. You won't be sorry. I wish I could tell you more about where I am and what I'm doing, but now's not the time. I need to be away longer. Just know one thing, and that's I love you. Be patient. You will hear from me again soon. I promise. _

_Love, Sara_

Nick and Warrick had stopped reading at the last couple of lines, seeing it was more personal for Gil. Instead, they beamed at Cassandra. "You sound like a perfect match. Good work ethic, life sucks, needs to get away." Nick told her. "Though how 'get away' and 'work around dead bodies' relate, I'll never know."

Cassandra laughed. "Hey, it was my sister's idea. I cried when I said bye to my team in Reno!" She replied. "I'm a surrogate sister, daughter and mom to most of them!"

Nick put his hands up. "No offense, meant, Miss. Sidle."

"Cassie, please." Cassandra replied.

"I know, Cassie… hm, you know, that's too close to a little girl I know. Cass, that's what I'll call you. I like Cass for you. You look like a Cass." Nick replied.

Cassandra raised her eyebrows, but smiled all the same. "Yes, sir."

Nick grinned in victory as Warrick chuckled as well. "Well, you have us interested, now the big guns." Nick turned to Gil. "So, Gris. She hired?"

"She's hired, alright." Gil nodded. "Welcome to our team, Cassandra Sidle."


	2. New Neighbor

"So what do we have with the vic?" Gil asked as they approached the body.

"Shot through the heart, no pun intended. It was a through and through" Cassandra replied. "Your buddy Greg is checking it out"

"Wait- five from our team are at the scene?" Warrick asked. "Isn't that a bit much?"

"Well, it's actually four. Greg was shadowing me until you guys showed up. We have a few pieces of evidence, so we're headed back to the lab. Bullet casing, an engraved bracelet, eyeglasses, and a picture that was cut up into a lot of pieces" she said.

"She's right" Greg replied as he walked over to them.

Gil nodded. "Alright, you guys get back to the lab and we'll check everything else out"

"Right"

---

"So, new recruit, whad'ya think about this case?" Greg asked.

"You sound like Grissom" Cassandra laughed, looking up from her work of trying to reassemble the picture so she could look Greg in the eye. "As for the case, I don't know-"

"I meant how is it for your first case with us?" Greg asked. "I remember my first case here. Odd case, and I had to work up to these guys. It was tough, but heck, Sara said you were better at this stuff than her, so-"

"I'm not" Cassandra cut him off, going back to reassemble the photo.

"Huh?"

Cassandra shook her head. "I'm younger than her by a year, so naturally, she's better. I appreciate her helping me getting this job, but Sara was the best C.S.I I've experienced"

"Aww, sisterly love, I could cry" Greg ran his finger down his cheek playfully.

Cassandra rolled her eyes playfully again and put one piece with the ones she had already put back together.

"What did you get so far?" Greg asked and went over to the assembly desk.

"The background's a bar is all I've really established, but it looks like there are three people in the photo as well, so we'll have to see" Cassandra replied.

"Three people? Really? Usually a torn photo had two people. A boyfriend or girlfriend and their flame who dumped them or they were the ones doing the dumping"

"Right, but this is three. See?" she pointed at the pile of unplaced pieces of the photo. "Three sets of eyes. One brown, two blue. The two sets of blue eyes have different shapes. One's rounded, the other one kind of has a rectangular shape"

Greg raised his eyebrows. "Could be a guy in the mix there, then" he suggested.

Cassandra nodded. "I'll get back to you"

"Gotcha" Greg started towards the door.

Cassandra glanced over the picture more, and then frowned. "Hey, Greg?"

"Yeah?" Greg turned back to her.

"Can you get the vic's T.O.D and also get Nick in here, please?"

"You got it" Greg left.

A couple of minutes later, Nick came in. "You rang?"

"Yeah. I just got one face outta the cut up picture. It's our vic, and I found one little detail I wasn't expecting" Cassandra replied and pointed at the assembly table.

Nick went over to it and frowned, looking at the background of the bar. To be more specific, it was the bar that Nick and Cassandra had met in the previous night, and both of them were in the background of the picture along with Josh. He looked up and Cassandra with a puzzled expression. "This thing isn't even twenty four hours old and it's already ripped up?" he asked.

"Could be a breakup that's only a few hours old. Maybe whoever got these developed got them developed quick because they were excited, then something went wrong"

"Could be" Nick nodded, and then chuckled.

Cassandra looked at him. "What?"

"That's exactly what Sara would've suggested"

Cassandra smiled. "Well, people have said she and I share the same mind even if we're not twins"

Nick raised his eyebrows. "Can't argue with that"

Cassandra shrugged. "No, you can't"

Gil walked into the lab. "Cassie, I want you to meet someone"

"Again?" Cassandra smiled.

Gil shrugged. "Welcome to the team. Anyway, this is Ronnie. She'll be your partner for this case"

"Wait- partner, what- I haven't even been an official team member for a full day!"

Nick looked at her. "Ya know, when you're new and this guy offers you a partner, you usually don't object. You're happy about it"

"Shut up" Cassandra shot him a playful glare before turning to the other woman in the room.

Ronnie grinned. "Hi. I'm Ronnie. I'm so happy there's actually another girl on the team closer to my age"

Cassandra smiled. "Hi. Cassie" she nodded. "Glad I can help you with that"

Gil smiled. "Good. Even if Ronnie's been on the team for a bit and you're new, I figured 'why not put the latest members together?'. Both of you earned it"

"Thanks" Cassandra and Ronnie grinned.

Gil left.

Nick smirked. "Lucky stiffs" he left as well.

The women spoke for a while until Catherine came in.

"I take you're Cassandra Sidle?" Catherine asked.

"Right. Cassie, please. All my friends call me that." Cassandra nodded.

"Or in this case since people keep coming in, she's also Miss. Popular" Ronnie added.

Catherine smiled and held out a sheet of paper. "Our vic died about six hours ago at most"

"That fits" Cassandra murmured.

"Fits with what?" Catherine asked.

"Nick and I met last night at a bar. He helped me out of a sticky situation with my boyfriend, and all three of us are in the background of that ripped up picture Greg and I found that probably belung to the vic" Cassandra explained. "It hasn't been twenty four hours yet, so the timeline with the events kind of fit. Our vic or one of the other two people took it, took it to a place that developed pictures late, got it developed, our vic had it, then got murdered." Cassandra explained.

Catherine nodded slowly as she took in the information, impressed. "Not bad… but I just want to let you know, something. It isn't about this case. It's about you being here in general"

"Shoot" Cassandra nodded.

"You have big shoes to fill. I hope you know that. Don't disappoint us"

"Never" Cassandra shook her head. "I'll make you and Sara proud"

Catherine chuckled. "That's what I wanted to hear"

---

Cassandra sighed as she drove onto the parkway a few minutes after she and the rest of the team had left the lab. They had surprisingly solved the murder by the end of their shift, and the person behind it was on their way to the jail at that moment. She glanced in the mirror again and gripped the steering wheel. The black van that was behind her had been behind her for most of the ride with very few changes of route from her own. She kept glancing back in the mirror as time went on until she pulled into her neighborhood and reached the driveway of her new house. She looked around and saw the van coming, but it turned into the driveway across the street and a house down. "What the…" she narrowed her eyes, then let them go back to normal when she saw the man who came out of the car. Medium build, brown spiky hair, country music playing in the car. She got out of her car. "Nick?!"

The man turned. Sure enough, it was Nick. He smiled. "Cassie? That you?"

"Yeah!" Cassandra laughed.

Nick's smile grew. "I can't get rid of you! What're you doin' here?!"

"I just moved into the upper floor of that house" she nodded behind her as she crossed the street.

"Get out! Beth's place? I didn't know she was renting it out!" Nick exclaimed, thinking of the older woman who lived in the house whose driveway Cassandra's car was now in.

"Well, Beth's her name, so probably. She said most of the neighbors don't know. I take you're one of them, then?"

"Yeah, this is my house, here. Well, then welcome to the neighborhood as well as team," Nick said. "When did you arrive?"

"About five days ago" Cassandra replied.

"How come I've never seen ya? Stayed with a friend?" Nick asked.

"Yeah" Cassandra nodded. "Well, more than a friend, but…"

Nick's smile faded. "Oh. Your boyfriend… Joss?"

"Josh, and yes" Cassandra nodded.

Nick nodded. "Hm"

Cassandra smiled. "Aww, we just met and you're already worried about me with him?"

"Well, not _necessarily_ just you, I just don't take well to women getting… abused, so to speak, by their boyfriends or husband"

Cassandra nodded. "Well, we see that enough"

" Don't I know it" Nick replied, his smile back on his face.

Cassandra rolled her eyes playfully. "Great. Now I have to watch what I say around you"

"Couldn't resist, and you gotta admit you had it coming," Nick replied.

Cassandra shrugged. "Good point"

"I have a few of those." Nick replied.

There were a few moments of silence until Nick spoke up again. "Seriously, I can't get rid of you lately!"

"Yeah, 'lately', coming up on twenty-four hours. I appreciate your company, too" Cassandra laughed.

Nick laughed as well.

Cassandra smiled. She had to hand it to him. He was pretty cute, and seemed like a good guy.

Nick looked around, then spotted a moving van in front of the other house. "That yours?"

"Huh? Yeah" Cassandra nodded after she had glanced at it.

"Have anything left in it?" Nick asked.

"A few boxes. I can get it tomorrow"

Nick waved his hand. "Forget it. It's not that late. I'll help you bring some in now" Nick offered.

Cassandra raised her eyebrows. "You'd do that?"

"Of course. You have the keys to it? Come on, let's get these things inside. I'll get to know you better doing it, anyway. I owe Beth a visit, so it works either way"

"Aww, being an old boy scout and helping an old lady out?" Cassandra smiled.

Nick glared playfully at her. "Shut up!"

Both of them chuckled.

Nick patted her back. "Alright, let's get goin' "


	3. Tremors

"You've GOT to be kidding. Well, you've had an interesting past in this career" Cassandra laughed after she and Nick had taken in the last of the boxes.

Nick grinned. "You're not kiddin'. After that whole thing, I get all nervous around graveyards. I've never been a fan of any kind of 4x4, or small spaces either…"

Cassandra frowned and stepped to the right a couple of times, blocking the view of her Ford Explorer.

Nick laughed. "Too late. I already saw it, but I appreciate the thought, anyway. On the bright side, you learned that Cassie's a good name in my eyes because of that little girl"

"I know, she sounded so cute" Cassandra nodded.

"She was. Still is, actually. I've actually kept in contact with her. She's doin' really good. Good student, too. She likes her foster family"

"That's always good to hear" Cassandra nodded and sat down on the front stoop. "Hey, you want anything to drink? Eat?" She offered.

Nick shook his head. "No, I'm good. So… have you heard from tall, drunk and handsome?" he asked, sitting next to her.

"Oh come on, that isn't fair."

"It's perfectly fair!" Nick argued. "I pretty much saved you from that situation the other night, you know"

"Oh, excuse me, Superman, but I was fine on my own, thanks" Cassandra smirked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Nick laughed. "Alright, Little Miss. Proud. If you were 'fine on your own', then why the heck did he manage to hit you?"

Cassandra opened her mouth to retort, but when she found no response, she shut it. "Damn it"

Nick grinned. "Thought so. Now, any chance that you and him are over so I don't have to worry about you alone with him at night?"

"Aww, you're worried about me, I'm touched," Cassandra tapped her cheek as if wiping away a tear. "And as for me not seeing him, it's gonna have to wait for now …"

"Huh?" Nick looked at her.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the guy from the bar!"

Nick looked to the side, seeing bright orange and white basketball sneakers. "Ah, the new James Richards sneakers. They cost quite a bit," he looked up, his frown deepening when he saw it was Josh. "Before you jump to conclusions, I wanna say my being here is totally innocent. It's friendly, nothing more. Turns out your girlfriend moved in next door to me" Nick motioned at his house.

Josh smirked. "Awfully convenient, isn't it?"

"Josh, it's the truth" Cassandra replied.

Josh's smirk turned into a normal smile. "Yeah, I know, I'm just messing with you guys"

Nick's eyes narrowed in confusion.

Josh turned to him. "Listen man, I'm sorry about the other night. I was drunk, and… I wasn't thinking straight."

"No, you weren't" Nick replied coldly, casting a quick glance at Cassandra when she whacked him in the stomach. She raised her eyebrows as if to point out that the other man was trying to apologize. "Er- yeah. Apology accepted." Nick nodded, trying to sound convincing.

"Good. Now, we weren't properly introduced, either. I'm Josh Summers. You are?"

"Nick Sto-" he coughed. "Stromer. Nick Stromer" now it was his turn to send a disapproving look at Cassandra to keep her quiet when she looked like she was about to ask why he lied about his last name.

"Right. Anyway, Cass, I just came to talk to you and apologize" Josh looked back at Cassandra. "Hey, uh, Stromer. Can you give us a few minutes alone, please?"

Nick clenched his jaw, torn between what to do. "No problem. I was on my way out, anyway. Listen, Cass. Why don't we carpool tomorrow? I'll come by at five"

"Uh… alright?" Cassandra blinked.

Nick nodded. "Good. I'll see you tomorrow, and Summers, nice officially meeting you" he crossed the street and went back into his house, casting a few glances back at the other house as he went.

--

Nick looked at Cassandra in the co-passenger's seat the next day. She had been staring at him from when she got into the seat until they got to the end of the block. "Alright, lemme have it. Bring on the questions"

"That works. What the Hell was that last night?! You went from some fun loving crazy guy to this crabby commando-" she pointed at him when he cracked a smile at the phrase. "And don't you dare laugh right now. And what's with 'Stromer', also?"

"Well, he may've been sober last night, but that doesn't mean I gotta like the guy, and something I've learned: In this business, if you don't like a guy, unless you're doing interrogations, fake your whole name, or just last name. It might just save your ass someday" Nick replied, turning the steering wheel to make a turn.

"I'll keep that in mind, and now you're scaring me. You're starting to sound like my dad!" Cassandra smiled weakly.

Nick scoffed. "Foster father, I hope, not your real one"

Cassandra parted her lips. "Uh…"

"Sara told me about her and your… situation with your real father" Nick explained.

"Oh" Cassandra nodded, then smiled. "Hey, no problem, because I did mean my foster father"

Nick laughed. "Good. Then I'd still love to meet him, because Sara said the same exact thing once to me. I don't remember what it was, but that was the first thing outta her mouth"

"Because you're like him! Seriously! Ditch the accent, and half the stuff you say is what my dad would say!"

"I'll believe it when I see and hear it" Nick smirked before turning on the radio. His smirk turned into a grin when he heard the song playing was "Sweet Home Alabama" "_Well I hope Neil Young will remember, southern man don't need him around anyhow_" he started singing.

"Oh god!" Cassandra laughed. "I had to move next door to the real country boy"

"Well, look at it like this: if you moved next door to Greg: You would probably hear Metallica or some other rock band 24/7" Nick replied before continuing to sing.

Cassandra sighed and shrunk back in her seat. "I don't know you"

"Get used to it" Nick winked.

--

The two had arrived at work a few minutes later, and within the hour they were on a case. Ronnie, Cassandra, Nick and Warrick were now standing, looking up at their latest crime scene, a platform about fifty feet up, where a body was. Gil had told them to start without him and he'd be there in a matter of minutes, and it already seemed he was going back on his word.

"Well, Vegas just got a little more Hollywood" Cassandra put one hand on her hip and used the other to shield her eyes from the sun as she looked up by the electrical pole, where a body was sitting about fifty feet up.

Nick laughed. "Yeah, anyone have Earl Bassett and Val McKee's phone number?"

Warrick grinned, catching on. " "Tremors", right?"

"Uh huh" Nick confirmed.

Warrick looked back at Cassandra and Ronnie. "Hey Newbies, one of you ready to go up there?"

"WHAT?!" Cassie and Ronnie yelled, turning to him.

"Isn't that more up Brass' guys alley if the vic is up there? I mean, we see him later… on the ground, right?" Cassandra asked.

Ronnie nodded in agreement.

"The vic got shot in the head, so it's right up ours. Sorry. We have to see him up there first, then on the ground" Warrick replied.

"Alright, who's going up?" Nick asked. "It's worth bonus points"

"I'm not a fan of really high heights," Ronnie said.

"The highest body I've dealt with was two-hundred feet up, mind you, in a hotel room. Don't you have the ground to check for evidence, anyway?" Cassandra replied.

"Fine. Rock, paper, scissors for it" Nick suggested. "Warrick and I do it all the time"

"Oh, right, use the option that nearly got you killed once because of that psycho putting you in a coffin!" Cassandra waved her arms.

Warrick laughed. "She has a point"

"I try to" Cassandra replied dryly.

"Whatever. I'm game" Ronnie put her arm out and made a fist with her hand.

Cassandra sighed. "We don't have much choice with these two" she put her own fist up and the two started the countdown.

"Three, two, one" Ronnie opened her palm, making paper, when Cassandra kept her fist closed.

Cassandra sighed again. "Two outta three?"

"Sorry, have fun" Ronnie replied.

Cassandra glared at her playfully. "You're a good friend," she said before going towards the pole. "Sara, you can have your job back" she growled and started climbing the ladder. She yelped when she was up a few feet and lost her footing for a moment. "Jesus. I shouldn't be doing this. I miss Reno." she finally made it to the platform and looked over the body, snapping various pictures.

"So, Val! Find anything?"

Cassandra closed her eyes and sighed, hearing the southern accented voice. "Working on it, Melvin!" she yelled back.

Warrick looked at Nick when the Texan laughed. "Melvin?"

"Do you remember the teenage guy in "Tremors" who was so annoying you just wanted him to die?"

"Oh yeah, Melvin was the kid that the gun-crazy guy wanted to kill all the time, right?" Warrick asked. "The guy with the tie-dye shirt?"

"Yeah, him." Nick nodded, looking around for anything interesting that may go with the case.

"So she just pretty much said you're annoying and she hopes you die?" Warrick asked as he bent down to examine a shine in the sand.

"Uh huh" Nick nodded. "You get something?"

"Yeah. Bullet case. 45 caliber" Warrick replied, pulling the casing out of the ground with tweezers.

Nick looked up. "Hey Cass, the guy have a gun on him?!"

"Yeah!" Cassandra replied.

"Any idea what Caliber?" Warrick called up.

"The thing's really scratched up. I can't tell. Maybe he got into a scuffle and was accidently dragging this thing along"

"Heh, scuffle" Nick chuckled.

After a few minutes, Cassandra came back down the ladder and met up with the other three C.S.Is. "I think I found all I could find, up there. Can't tell until we have the guy on the ground"

"Any ideas of a story?" Nick asked.

"Possibly a fight. The guy had bruises everywhere, his clothes were ripped…" Cassandra replied.

Warrick nodded. "Hm, well, now we just have to wait and see what else Doc Robins can find"

--

"Cassie, you were right. There was a fight with our latest victim" Gil said as he came into the meeting room, meeting everyone for lunch. "Sorry I couldn't make it there. I got caught up with another case"

Cassandra nodded. "No problem. Alright. Good start"

Nick put down his sandwich. "Do we have a suspect yet?"

" Yeah. The guy's name is Sean Miller" Gil replied.

Nick snorted. "Geez, this case really is Vegas gone Hollywood" he picked up his fork and attempted to take a few stabs at a slice of tomato in the salad that Cassandra had.

Cassandra playfully glared at him and started poking his fork with hers, trying to fight him off. "We have a suspect, do we have our vic's name?" she turned to Gil, still fighting Nick off.

"John Malcom, or at least, it was…" Gil replied.

Cassandra raised her eyebrows. "Go on" she took another swipe at Nick's fork, but it missed and ended up in the tomato, so both of them had it. "Nick, it's a damn tomato!"

"Exactly. Let go!"

Catherine put her pointer and middle finger over her mouth, trying to hide the smile growing on her face, amused at the two.

Greg walked in. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late- oh, tomato!" he took it off both forks and shoved the slice into his mouth. He patted Cassandra's shoulder. "Thanks. I was starving"

Gil sighed and smiled himself. "Back to business. John Malcom is no longer our victim's name. Fifteen years ago he had it legally changed to Tom Wilkstead-"

"WHAT?!" Cassandra shrieked, startling everyone. She looked at Gil. "Tom. Tom Wilkstead. Please tell me you meant some other name"

"Uh, no. Why? You know- er- knew him?"

"Yeah, well, you would have to when the guy's your second cousin"

Gil frowned. "You're kidding. Why didn't you recognize John Malcom, then?"

"We only met once, about ten years back during a family reunion. Why didn't I recognize him?" Cassandra muttered the last part to herself. "I mean, he was really banged up, but we hit it off. I should've known…"

"Hey, Cassie. Sometimes you can't help these things. And if you know the guy, I'm sorry, but-"

"I'm off the case. I know." Cassandra nodded. "Well this is nice. My first week here and I'm already booted off a case"

Warrick waved his hand. "Aw, come on Griss! Let her stay on. We could use the help. She only met the guy once, so it's not really personal. Like if it was Sar-" he cut himself off, and all of them were silent for a moment, remembering that Sara was a victim at one point. She was just lucky she didn't end up dying.

Gil looked at Cassandra after a while. "I don't know…"

"Grissom, don't worry about it" Cassandra shook her head. "I was joking about being disappointed with getting kicked off anyway. You want me gone, I'm as good as out that door"

"And stealing my car since I brought you here" Nick muttered.

Cassandra glared at him. "Shut up"

"Make me" Nick muttered.

Greg grinned. "Ooh, catfight in meeting room 1" he leaned forward. "Cass, let him have it!"

Nick looked at Greg. "What're you doin' on her side, man?!"

"Nick: Listen to this. It may help someday: When there's a fight, always take the chick's side"

Cassandra laughed. "Thanks, Greg"

Greg nodded.

Gil looked at her. "Well the team's taken to you well"

"What's not to like?" Cassandra laughed, then laughed harder at everyone's surprised expressions. "I'm kidding. I'm not that arrogant, come on!"

"Or are you?" Greg narrowed his eyes.

"Okay, I'm back to not being sure about you" Cassandra smirked.

Jim walked into the room. "Sorry to interrupt. We found another man's I.D on Miller. Tom Knight. The guy could've found out and tried to kill him. Anyone feel like going for a ride? We found the Knight's address"

"Nick, Warrick" Gil motioned at Jim.

The two said men got up and went over to Jim.

Gil looked at Cassie. "Can I trust you not to go berserk if something comes up and it gets more personal?"

"Definitely. I'll be calm if I'm still in" Cassandra nodded.

"Alright, you're with Nick, Warrick and I. I wanna see you in the field again. Greg, Catherine, you go with Ronnie to Miller's place."

"Gotcha" Greg got up, then leaned towards Cassandra. "Good luck with Bug Man. He can be tough, even on new arrivals. Hopefully you being in this business in Reno helps" he muttered.

"Thanks" Cassandra muttered back.

Greg followed Catherine out of the room, since she had already made it halfway out.

"Alright, let's go" Gil nodded.


	4. Falling

"This is it" Jim announced and pulled the car into a spot in front of a house. "Tom Knight's place."

"Alright, let's go" Gil nodded towards the house. They got out of the car and went to the front door.

Jim knocked on it, but no one opened it. He knocked again. "Mr. Knight?" he waited a few seconds and tried a third time, but again, there was no answer. He looked at Gil and Cassandra before turning the doorknob and found it open.

"Eek. That's never a good sign" Cassandra shook her head.

Gil looked at Jim. "Well?"

Jim shrugged before drawing his gun and going inside the house. "Tom Knight? LVPD! We wanna talk to you!"

Still no response.

Gil looked at Nick and Warrick. "You two try upstairs. Cassie, look outside. Brass, you and I look around this floor.

"Got it" everyone went to their assigned areas and kept looking for Tom, but they didn't have any luck for quite a few minutes.

Outside, Cassandra jumped down the short flight of stairs to the patio. "Where the Hell else can this guy be?!" she muttered and ducked under the deck, looking for Tom. "The guy's obviously dead if this is taking so long." She muttered, then froze, hearing a crash. "What the?" she turned just in time to see a flash of brown, light blue and black. It only took her a moment to realize it was Nick, who was now on the ground on top of shards of glass. "Holy sh… NICK!" she got out from under the deck and ran over to him. "Grissom!" she yelled towards the house.

Gil came running out. "I saw. Jim's going up to see what the Hell that was. Stay with Nick"

"But-"

"Stay… with… Nick" Gil ordered before going back inside.

Cassandra shook her head before kneeling next to Nick. "Nick, what happened?!"

"Knight was in the damn closet. Warrick jumped outta the way in time, I didn't. A.K.A I went out the window the hard way. Why does this stuff always happen to me?" he muttered before passing out.

"Nick? Nick, damn it! Wake up!" she looked up at the house again, at the second floor where the broken glass window was. She frowned, hearing gunshots. "Guys?!" she yelled, moving to try and eliminate the glare that was there so she could see what was going on. She found an area that worked and saw a struggle between Warrick, Jim, and a redhead. After a moment, it seemed like they had the situation under control.

Jim came to the window after seeing her looking up. "It's fine, Cassandra!"

Cassandra sighed, then frowned, seeing the redhead get free of Warrick, who had just had the redhead against the wall, and now he was pointing a gun right at Brass.

"No it's not, Brass, look out!" Cassandra yelled.

Jim turned quickly, just in time to duck and avoid the bullet that was fired.

Warrick slammed the redhead into the wall again and a moment after, Jim had handcuffed him. Warrick started dragging him out of the room, while Jim came to the window again. "Thanks" Jim called at Cassandra, and then nodded at Nick. "He okay?"

"He lost conciousness after saying that Knight shoved him out the window"

"It happened again?!" Jim raised his eyebrows.

"He said words to that effect, too" Cassandra nodded.

Jim nodded as well. "Hold on, I'll be right there" a couple of minutes later, Jim came out of the house and over to Cassandra. "I called the medics and the cops. I'm sure he'll be fine. He's survived a Hell of a lot more than that"

"So I've heard," Cassandra muttered.

Jim patted her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. He'll be fine."

Cassandra sighed. "I really hope you're right"

They both looked up when Gil and Warrick came over to them as well.

The man pointed at Nick. "I can tell you he'll make it just by looking at him. He doesn't look too bad like he has in the past. That's a good sign"

Warrick looked between the three of them after finally looking up from Nick. "I'll ride in the ambulance with him. Make sure he's okay. That okay, Griss?"

"It's fine. Just be ready to analyze evidence right when you get back"

"You got it. That's them coming now" Warrick said, hearing a siren that was getting louder. "You guys get back to the lab, I'll call you when we get there and tell you any updates"

"Thanks" the other three nodded before going towards the van they had come in.

They went back to the lab, and a couple of hours later, Cassandra was running Knight's name to check if he had a criminal record, which she had a feeling he did after the situation before, but she kept on pacing in the room. Seeing Nick fall and then hit the ground hard brought her right back to _that_ night. She collapsed in the chair in front of the computer and ran her hands through her hair before she rested her face in her hands.

"…Cassie?"

Cassandra looked up and saw Gil. "Grissom! I didn't even hear you come in!"

"I have that affect with people. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine"

"Cassandra…" he sent her a reproachful look.

Cassandra sighed. "Fine. I'm not. What happened to Nick earlier… it… it happened in Reno once…"

"Oh?" Gil raised his eyebrows.

Cassandra nodded. "Trent Lewis. He was my best friend. One of the suspects were waiting for us at the scene a few years back… he cornered me and was just about to shoot me, then Trent came running in. Saved my ass, but the guy grabbed him and practically threw him out the window." Her eyes started to get glossy. "Warrick said Nick was okay?"

Gil nodded. "Already alert and everything."

Cassandra smiled for a moment, then frowned again. "Trent wasn't so lucky…" she bit her lip. "He died when he hit the ground"

Gil frowned. "My god. I'm sorry…"

"Thanks" Cassandra nodded. "I'm glad Nick made it, though" she smiled again.

"We all are" Gil nodded. "I brought you this. It isn't the best, but it's all we have" he offered her a cup of coffee.

"Thanks again" Cassandra nodded and took it.

Gil paused. "Should I? Hmm…"

"What?" Cassandra asked.

Gil waved his hand. "The Hell with it. Have you heard from Sara since she left?"

Cassandra paused before bursting out laughing.

Gil smiled. He wanted the answer badly, but he was happier to see that he had gotten her out of the sad mood he had pretty much just put her in.

Cassandra finally stopped laughing. "Why didn't I see that one coming? Yes, I have, however…"

"I hate 'howevers'" Gil stated.

Cassandra smiled. "Unfortunately, she's asked me _not_ to tell any of you anything about her until she or I feel the time is right"

"What?!" Gil's eyes narrowed. "That doesn't sound like her!"

"I thought so too, but, no. She really doesn't want you guys to know what she's up to for some amount of time"

"Why? Is she already married or something?" Gil asked.

Cassandra laughed again. "No, not that I know of, Grissom. She always had a thing for you since her first day of working here" her hand flew to her mouth. "She didn't want me telling you that, either" she muttered through her hand.

Gil grinned. "Hey, I'll keep my mouth shut about your slip up. By the way, you can call me Gil or Griss, if you like. You're obviously a good person, and heck, you _are_- well, maybe now it would be _were_ my sister-in-law, so I think less formal is fine"

"Thanks Gil" Cassandra nodded. "And you two are still engaged, it just may be a while before you guys can plan any further" she shrugged.

Gil pointed at her. "I like the way you think."

Cassandra smiled again.

Gil nodded. "Anyway, I didn't come here for a chat. I came to say I liked how you handled earlier. You kept calm throughout the whole thing, and you followed orders. Good job I came to see if you're up to another little test to see if you really will be a good addition to the team."

"Sounds interesting. What do I have to do?"

Gil smiled. "Cassie…" he leaned forward. "What do you think of roller coasters?"


	5. Surprise

Gil tried not to laugh when Cassandra came out of the bathroom of the amusement park

Gil tried not to laugh when Cassandra came out of the bathroom of the amusement park. "You alright?"

Cassandra glared at him. "I just spent five minutes barfing in there! How would you be?!"

Gil smiled. "You could've told me you didn't do well with roller coasters and I would've dropped the idea"

"Usually I'm fine with them" Cassandra replied as they started walking down one of the paths towards the parking lot. "That final drop was just a little much for me"

Gil nodded. "Fair enough. I just found the way you handled it interesting. Showed no signs of weakness until you got off the roller coaster. You were even fine for a couple of minutes when we got off. That shows me a lot about your behavior. You can get through a case and won't let it phase you until it's over"

"Depends on the case" Cassandra shrugged.

Gil glanced at her. "Hm. Yet you still have doubts about yourself"

"Again, spent five minutes barfing" Cassandra pointed out.

Gil chuckled. "True. Alright, where to now? Want me to drop you off at your place? You just moved across from Nick, right?"

"Yeah, but that reminds me. When do visiting hours end at the hospital?"

Gil glanced at his watch. They had called it a day earlier than usual, so it was about 7:30. "They're still open for two hours. Wanna see Nick?"

"Yeah. I mean, obviously it wasn't my fault he went flying out the window, but I was still there when he went out and was there when he passed out, so I kinda owe a visit to him"

Gil nodded. "Understandable. The hospital's only a few blocks from here. I'll drive"

--

A few minutes later, Gil and Cassandra had gotten to the hospital and had gotten Nick's room number and were headed to the room when Cassie literally walked into Greg, causing her to fall backwards.

"Oh, sorry, Newbie" Greg helped her up. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, 'Greggo'" Cassandra smirked.

"Here for Nick?" Greg asked.

"Of course." Gil crossed his arms. "You?"

"You think I'd leave my friend like that without at least checking up on him?" Greg smiled. "Grissom, you don't know me at all!"

Gil smiled weakly before pointing down the hallway to their right. "I've had a victim in the same room Nick's in now. It's first door on the left. Let's go"

The three turned the corner and went into Nick's room, smiling when they saw the Texan was watching T.V.

Nick saw Greg and Gil first. "Hospital cable sucks" he announced, then spotted Cassandra. "Hey, there's the last pretty face I saw before I blacked out"

Greg saw that Cassandra blushed. He grinned, taking the moment to his advantage. He and Cassandra had already become close, so he enjoyed joking around with her. "Pretty? Her? Nah, Nick, I think it's the drugs talking" he winked at Cassandra when she playfully gasped and whacked him in the arm.

"Anyway," Cassandra moved away from Greg and sat down in the chair beside Nick's bed. "How've ya been?" she cracked a smile when Greg put his elbow on her shoulder and leaned on her. She put her elbows on her knees and also went forward so he had more of a surface to lean on.

"I told you I've had worse, so naturally, I'm fine. A bit shaken and my back's sore, but I think I can go home tomorrow and be ready for work that night" Nick replied.

"I don't think so, Nick" Gil shook his head. "You can probably go home, but rest for a couple of days,"

"Aw, come on, Griss! I'm fine!" Nick argued.

Greg looked at his boss. "Yeah, can't you tell? Your teacher's pet is arguing with you!" he ducked to avoid the wallet Nick had thrown at him. When it hit the ground, Greg picked it up. "Thanks, bud. I needed a few extra bucks"

"Gimme that!" Nick snatched his wallet back.

"Not even a twenty?" Greg asked, sticking out his lower lip.

"No" Nick replied. "Bad Greg. Very bad Greg"

"Woof" Greg replied, then whimpered like a dog.

"Not workin' on me, Sparky" Nick replied.

"Do I get credit for trying?" Greg asked.

"No" Nick replied.

"Evil" Greg muttered.

"That's what they call me" Nick replied with a smile.

Everyone smiled at him, secretly wondering how he ever kept positive with all the times he ended up in a hospital.

--

As Nick had hoped, he was allowed back at the crime lab about three days after he was released. However, how his friends were treating him on the job wasn't what he had hoped for. Warrick, Ronnie, and Cassandra didn't even leave a ten-foot radius of him. Nick and Warrick were originally supposed to go deeper into the house, but when they found quite a lot of blood and shattered glass around the living room, they stayed with the women.

"Guys, really, I'm fine," he told them after he had bagged a pair of scissors with blood on the tips. Tom Knight had gone away for both attempted murder and normal murder since they succeeded in proving he killed John, and now they were on a new case. A family that was slaughtered in their own home.

"We'll believe that in a week after nothing happens to you" Warrick replied, stepping over a toy train set.

Nick scoffed. "I don't get hurt that much!"

Cassandra snorted. "That's not what I figured after you told me those stories about your past here, then a day later I watch you fall out the window" she said matter-of-factly as she took a picture of blood spatter on the wall.

Warrick chuckled. "I knew I'd like you, Cass"

"Glad you do" Cassandra smiled and took another picture of a pool of blood on the opposite wall from the spatter. "Ugh. These poor people"

"You're not kidding"

Everyone turned and greeted Catherine after she made her entrance statement and joined them. She stepped over the blood pool and started walking around, looking at the floor. She bumped into Cassandra in the process. "Oh, sorry"

Cassandra looked up and smiled. "It's okay, I-" she froze, seeing something behind Catherine. "Uh… guys… you may wanna see something…"

"What?" Warrick asked.

Cassandra took the small flashlight she had in her belt loop and shone it on one of the pictures.

The three others turned to see where she was shining it, and let their jaws dropped, seeing that the light was hitting a picture of Sara with a woman none of them had seen before. They looked back at the dead body a few feet away, where David was, writing up notes.

"Hey Dave, can you flip out Jane Doe over for us?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, sure" David nodded and pushed the dead women upwards.

The other five looked from the body to the woman next to Sara in the picture.

"That's her," Catherine reported. "Any I.D yet?"

David shook his head. "Nope"

Nick looked around. "I don't even see a purse or anything. Robbery, maybe?" he suggested.

"I can call Sara and see who it is" Cassandra shrugged.

Catherine nodded. "Do that. I think we're good here. I'll have the police log you out of the scene"

"Thanks" Cassandra carefully made her way out of the room and outside, pulling out her cell phone as she did so.

--

"Our vic's name is Sofia Crane" Cassandra announced, walking into the meeting room a couple of hours later.

"Oh, you decided to come back, huh?" Nick asked playfully with a smirk.

"Bite me" Cassandra growled at him before sliding into the seat next to him. She looked Gil in the eye before looking away.

Gil regarded her for a moment. "Cassie, you got our victim's name, that's a good thing. It's a start"

Cassandra looked at the other CSIs in the room. "You didn't tell him how I got it, did you?"

They shook their heads.

Gil blinked. "Got what? The name? Is it important? Why is it an apparent big deal on my part? … and why am I asking so many questions?"

Cassandra sighed. "Grissom, there was a picture at the scene today. It was our victim with Sara"

Gil raised his eyebrows and leaned forward, interested. "And?"

"Well, we couldn't find any I.D of our vic anywhere, so I called her…" she swallowed. "She gave me our vic's name… and said that she's coming back to Vegas two days from now"


	6. Old Friends

Everyone stared at Cassandra, hearing the news. It wasn't that they didn't want to see Sara, it was that none of them expected her to be back so soon and for such a thing when she wasn't even a suspect.

"Two days from now?" Gil repeated.

Cassandra nodded. "She said it's the least she could do after leaving all of you like that," she explained.

Everyone was silent. She had a point, 'she' meaning Sara. They all knew it would probably be awkward seeing her again, but none of them seemed to care.

"Tell her we'll be waiting," Grissom suggested, but it seemed more like an order.

Cassandra nodded. "Will do,"

Everyone else nodded, at a loss for words otherwise.

--

**That night: **

"Being here, is like… so cool!" Ronnie said, walking up to Cassandra's door. Cassandra had invited over for coffee and a movie while sharing stories about Sara, and Ronnie had gladly accepted. They had just said goodbye to Nick before starting up the driveway.

"Geez, Ron, it's just my house!" Cassandra laughed.

"But it's still cool being here, I've never been invited over by a coworker!" Ronnie replied.

Cassandra laughed. "Keep acting like that and it's no wonder no one invites you over"

Ronnie made a face at her.

Cassandra smiled. "Okay, let's just get inside," she made her way to the door

"Gotcha" Ronnie followed.

The two barely had time to get inside before two men came out of nowhere and grabbed them from behind.

Across the street, Nick heard Cassandra cursing a mile a minute, and Ronnie scream. He quickly slammed the trunk shut, then ran across the street. "RONNIE?! CASSIE?!" he got inside the door, seeing four outlines of people. Two were Cassandra and Ronnie, but the other two were holding the women. "HEY!" he yelled, but when he saw more of the situation, many questions came to his mind. He was pretty big, so why wasn't one of the intruders going after him unless they hadn't seen him? Why did Ronnie go from screaming her lungs out to just breathing fast? And why the hell was Cassandra laughing hysterically when one of the intruders had one of their arms around her neck?"

The one holding her finally spoke up. "Fear me, Cassandra Sidle, for I am adorable! I shall crush you with giant hugs and smother you with kisses to the cheek, and make love to you over and over again, though it would make my wife very unhappy"

Nick twitched. Either Josh had a change of heart and was just plain stupid for admitting he had a wife, the intruder was a stalker, or just plain mental.

"Jake Thompson, you jackass! Let me go! Max, is that you?!" Cassandra asked between fits of laughter.

"… Maybe" the second intruder, who was holding Ronnie, replied after a moment. He finally noticed Nick. "Hey, we have an intruder, Steph" he shook Ronnie gently.

"I'm not Steph!" Ronnie pointed out.

The second intruder paused again. "…You aren't?"

"No, she's not, Max" Cassandra replied.

"Cass, what's going on?" Nick demanded, still confused.

"Hold on," Cassandra told him. A moment later, the living room lamp came on illuminating the room. A man with reddish brown hair was holding Cassandra, his arm around her waist and head on her shoulder. Nick had seen him around the crime lab before, but didn't know his name. The man holding Ronnie had dirty blonde hair, and unlike the first man who was smiling, he was staring at Ronnie with a confused expression. "Nick, meet my best friend Jake Thomson, who is the equivalent to Greg in my circle of friends, and that is my foster brother Max Schmidt" she punched the brunette's arm, showing indicating he was Jake and pointed at the blonde, indicating that he was Max. "And Max, this is my friend Ronnie"

Max's arms instantly dropped. "Sorry, miss. Thought you were another friend of my sister's"

"And THAT is why you shouldn't do that anymore, Jake! Especially in a new house!" Cassandra replied. "Lemme go!"

Jake opened his arms to let her get away. "Sorry, killjoy"

Cassandra stepped away from him and walked between Nick and Ronnie. "Guys, I am so sorry. These two have known each other for years since I introduced them, and they live to play very evil pranks on me!" she glared at Max and Jake.

"Guilty as charged" Max nodded. He looked at Ronnie. "I really am sorry. I thought you were her friend Stephanie. Steph is used to this by now"

"As long as you're not really trying to kill me, I'm fine. I've had several close calls," Ronnie replied.

Jake chuckled. "Yeah, I guess we were outta line in your new place. I'm sorry too." He looked at Nick. "Please tell me you're a new guy and no more Josh,"

"Sorry. No. I'm Nick Stokes, I work with her, nothin' more. Josh is still around. Funny, it sounds like you don't like him, either" he raised his eyebrows suggestively at Cassandra.

"Like him? You know how many times I've been tempted to throw him out the window?" Jake asked, then nodded at Cassandra. " I'm more protective of this one than Max here is"

"Aw come on, that's unfair!" Max argued.

Nick sighed, finally reaching the decision that these guys were harmless. Cassandra had no sign of faking being happy about seeing them, and they wouldn't ramble on if they were really against them. She didn't even seem worried about Jake holding her loosely around the waist. "Well, this is interesting. I could've had the cops on your ass for no reason"

Jake laughed. "Well, that would be interesting for the boys to hear"

Nick tilted his head. "Huh? How so?"

Jake pulled a police badge out of his back pocket. "I'm LVPD myself. If you're one of Cassie's new coworkers, that means you're CSI, so if you feel more comfortable… " He handed the badge over to Nick. "It's real"

Nick couldn't help but laugh when he found it indeed was. No wonder he had seen him in the lab before. "You're LVPD and you pull this on poor Cassandra and… what's her name?"

"Stephanie. An old friend of mine" Cassandra replied.

Jake shrugged. "It keeps us occupied" he took his badge back from Nick when Nick held it back out for him. "So, how's my Cassie holdin' up?" he let go of her and sat on the couch.

"I'm fine, and I'm not yours. Lynn is. Speaking of Lynn, where is she? You two are barely apart!" She looked up when a redhead came out of the hallway.

"Is it safe to come out yet?" she asked.

Jake smirked. "Speak of the devil!"

Cassandra shoved him playfully. "Nick, this is Jake's wife, Lynn,"

Nick shook Lynn's hand.

Lynn observed him for a moment. "Ah, making friends already are we, C.J? Cute friends, at that," she pointed out, using Cassandra's other nickname since she was Cassandra Jane.

"Hey!" Jake objected playfully.

Cassandra laughed. "Sorry, Jake. You have some competition now! Anyway, Lynn, these two are my new coworkers, Nick…" she glanced at Nick, who nodded his approval. "Stokes, and Ronnie" she finished.

"Hi," Lynn nodded politely, a southern drawl coming through in the greeting.

Obviously it interested Nick. "Ah, finally, an accent that sounds like it's from home? Where are you from? Tennessee?"

"Nope. Texas, born and bred," Lynn replied. "Well, until I met Jake and we moved out here to bother this one" Lynn poked Cassandra's arm.

Cassandra smiled at her.

Nick nodded and smiled. "What part of Texas?" he asked.

"Austin," Lynn replied. "City girl all the way, too," she added.

Nick laughed. Again, thanks to the way they met, he had his doubts about the men, but Lynn was already making a bit hit for him. "Can't argue with that,"

Jake shook his head. "No, you can't. So anyways, C.J, what's new? Find any interesting dead bodies?"

"You have no idea," Cassandra sighed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jake asked.

"One involved Sara," Cassandra replied.

Nick went to open his mouth to point out that she shouldn't really be talking about cases with three people not involved, but then remembered seeing Jake's badge. Having one cop there seemed to be enough.

Jake nodded. "Yeah, I heard about that. Your sister okay?"

"She's fine, as far as we know, we just don't…" Nick began, but was cut off when he heard Jim's voice come out of nowhere. It only took him a moment to realize it was coming from the walkie-talkie Jake had attached to his belt loop.

"Sergeant Thompson, you there?"

Jake hit a button. "Yeah, Brass. What's up?" he asked, glancing at everyone else.

Jim's voice came back up, slightly jumbled because of the connection. "I just had one Hell of a drive, and it was only a block. I thought we were gonna get off early like two C.S.Is Nick Stokes and Cassandra Sidle did, but I was wrong. Some guy sped right by me, then dumped a body right outta their car!" Jim replied. "I need Stokes and Sidle back here. Willows and Brown are already on their way. I need you to help out your guys find the bastard who did this!"

"Well then, I think you calling me first this way just saved you a trip, sir" Jake replied.

"Why is that?" Jim asked.

"Hiya Brass," Nick said calmly.

"Nick? Is that you, what they Hell are you doing around Jake? I didn't know you knew him!"

"They just met, Brass. We'll be right there!" she looked at Jake, and before they knew it, all three of them had quickly excused themselves from Lynn and Max, simply saying 'Get comfortable, we'll be back soon', and they ran out the door, not hearing Jim's mumbling about Cassandra being there as well.


	7. The Second Time That Week

"Falling, falling, FALLING!" Jake yelled after they had reached the new crime scene. Ronnie ended up having to leave early because there was a family emergency, so they dropped her off back at home. Nick, who had been in the back of the car with her had requested to drive, and since none of the three remaining people wanted to get out of the car at the crime scene like a criminal, they had piled up into the front seat. Cassandra was in the middle and Jake was in the co-passenger seat, it didn't work to well since he fell out of the car and onto the ground when he opened the door since he was half on the seat, half off, and Cassandra wasn't far behind.

They all heard Jim's familiar laugh coming towards them, so they looked to see what was going on.

Jim approached them. "You two just made my night with that. Nick, Cassie, Jake," he nodded to each of them respectively. "So, care to fill in why you were all together before?"

Cassie pointed from Jake to herself. "Old friends. He decided to drop by uninvited. Nearly gave Nick, Ronnie and I all heart attacks," she growled the last part.

Jim glanced at Jake. "At it again, huh?"

"Yup," Jake nodded proudly.

Cassandra looked at him again. "Do I wanna know?"

"No," Jake shook his head.

Nick chuckled. "Anyway, what's going on? What is this?"

Jim pointed over his shoulder at where the crime scene tape was. "Woman in her late fifties, early sixties. Been dead about three hours, according to David. That's all we have right now. Cassie, Catherine's waiting for you by the body if you wanna check it out. Nick, you too. Jake, stay with Willis. We may need you around,"

"Got it" all three of them went in the direction they were supposed to go.

Catherine looked over her shoulder when she heard them call a greeting. "Hey guys, what took you so long? We have a lot of work here!"

"We'd say traffic, but that's a total lie. Let's leave it at two guys who both 'know Vegas and its shortcuts well and a girl whose friends with both of them," Nick replied.

Catherine laughed. "Alright. Hey Cassie, you think you can help me roll our Jane Doe over fully?"

"Sure," Cassandra nodded, going over to the woman's other side since she was facedown.

She and Catherine rolled her over onto her back. What they didn't count on was Cassandra jumping to her feet with a yelp of surprise, then walking a few feet away, muttering 'This can't be happening, that's the second one I know,"

"Cass? You okay?" Nick frowned, starting to go over to her. "Cath, what happened?" he asked, pausing when he was a few feet away form her.

"I dunno. She saw the woman's face and just jetted," Catherine shrugged.

Nick nodded and walked over to Cassandra. "Hey, what was that about? Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not, Nick," Cassandra replied, squatting down, running her hands through her hair.

Nick paused. "What is it?"

Cassandra pointed to the body again.

Nick frowned again. _Oh God, please don't let it be Sara… wait, no. Catherine would've known. _He looked at the body and frowned, seeing it was Beth. "Oh shit…"

Catherine looked at them. "You guys know her?"

Nick nodded. "My neighbor who's also the landlord to her place," he pointed at Cassandra.

"Oh…" Catherine licked her lips. "Is…"

Nick looked back at Cassandra and put his hand on her back. "Hey, you wanna sit this one out?"

"How about I just sit the rest of this entire job out, Nick? That's the second victim I know this week. I know it's only two, but… now I'm worried about Sara, and I know she won't cancel the flight even if I asked…"

Nick nodded. "You go back to the car, alright? I'll talk to Brass and Grissom when I see them… I want you to stay at my place tonight, okay? You're right, it could be nothing, or it could be something. If they investigate her house, since it's yours as well you may not have a choice anyway,"

"Thanks," Cassandra nodded and walked away.

Nick went back to Catherine. "She's flustered since this is the second victim she knows, and this one was close. She's gonna sit this case out. I'll call Greg and get him down here,"

"Right," Catherine nodded.

Nick walked a few feet away and dialed Catherine's number.

Gil and Greg soon arrived at the scene a couple of minutes apart and had noticed Cassie standing by the squad car they had come in, talking to Jake.

"What's up with Cass?" Greg asked.

"Knows the victim… again," Nick replied. "She's gonna sit this one out, which is why I called you in,"

Greg pursed his lips. "Oh, yikes… Er, okay, where can I start?"

"Outside. Work in," Gil replied.

Greg nodded and went over to where Nick had gone moments before, going to work right away.

**A couple of hours later: **

Jake was never one for uncomfortable silences, so he had volunteered to drive back to the houses after calling Max and Lynn to explain what happened and say that having a couple of drinks after getting back wasn't going to work. As he turned down Nick and Cassandra's block, he sighed. He had come to trust Nick in a short time, so he had no qualms with her staying at his house, not even considering he'd take advantage of her. He was unhappy to see his best friend so upset, but he was happy that his concentration on the road made him preoccupied from worrying about her.

Nick, on the other hand, who was in the backseat with Cassandra, was looking at her ever so often to see if she looked back, which she didn't. She just kept staring out the window. When Jake pulled up to the house, he poked her shoulder. "Hey, we're here,"

"Yeah, I know. If you'll excuse me, these guys are here for Beth or questioning, so Jake, can you…" she trailed off, then nodded at the squad cars in front of her house.

"Sure, C.J," Jake got out of the car and opened the door for her, letting her get out.

"Cass, hold on!" Nick called after her.

"Nick, just… let her be. She doesn't do well the first couple of hours when she's upset. She'll come around later," Jake told him.

Nick nodded. "Thanks, man," he got out of the car and shook hands with Jake before going to his door and unlocking it before stepping back out to wait for Cassandra. When she came back in, he approached her. "Day shift, I take? Do they need any more information?"

Cassandra shook her head.

Nick looked her up and down briefly. "You want anything?"

"Nick, no," Cassandra snapped, then sighed. "I'm sorry. I know you're trying to help… I just… I just need to rest right now…"

Nick smiled weakly. "Yeah, alright. Come into the doctor's office,"

Cassandra smiled and stepped inside after him, laughing when what he had called the house seemed to fit the place. It did look like a doctor's office. "Not bad… uh, where…?"

"Take your pick from the two other rooms. Go down that hallway. The one on the left is my room, then the other two are guestrooms," Nick cut her off, already figuring what she was going to ask.

"Thanks," Cassandra slipped passed him and followed his directions. She picked the smaller of the two rooms, threw her effects down onto the nightstand and collapsed on the bed. It barely took her a minute to fall asleep. However, she only got about an hour of sleep before she heard her cell phone ring. "Oh, you have GOT to be shitting me," she muttered into the pillow and groped around for her phone, finally getting it. She hit talk and brought it to her ear. "Sidle,"

"Hey Nick, it's… Wait a second…Sidle? … Cass?!"

Cassandra bolted upright. "Sara?!"

"Uh… yeah. What're you doing answering Nick's phone?"

"What're you talking about? This is mine…" Cassandra pointed out.

"No it's not. I called Nick because I couldn't get in contact with you for some reason. I tried your landline…"

"Yeah well, that's gonna be impossible for a bit. Long story. Hold on," she knew she had seen a lamp on the nightstand, and was crudely proven right when she succeeded in flipping the switch, turning it on, having her vision spotted since her eyes weren't used to the light. She looked at the nighttable again, frowning to see that her cell phone was on the table. She took the phone she was holding away from her ear, then noticed it wasn't hers. It just had the same ringtone. "Damn…" she put the phone back to her ear. "Hold on, Sar. Let me call you back on mine," she waited for Sara to reply before switching phones. When she got Sara back on the line, she continued. "Anyway, what's up?" she yawned.

"First things first. Why the hell would you even answer Nick's phone at four in the morning? Shift's OVER by now, so… Oh God, Cass, tell me you two … I knew it would be you and him!"

"Wait, slow down, there. Nothing happened, Sar. My landlady was found dead earlier. Nick offered for me to stay here since the house is gonna be swarming with cops all night and day,"

"I'm sorry about your landlady. I remember you told me you and her became friends pretty fast. Anyway, as far as Nick's concerned, Promise me,"

"…I'm not a kid, Sar,"

"Promise me you two didn't. I'm not mad, I just don't wanna go into an awkward situation when I come by the house,"

"Come by the… you're not due here until tomorrow," Cassandra pointed out.

"Cass? Who are you…?" Nick showed up on the other side of the doorway, tilting his head, seeing she was on the phone. "Who called?"

Cassandra waved her hand at him to silence him. "It sounds like you're saying you're at the airport,"

Nick grinned. "Josh?" he asked. He quickly ducked to avoid the shoe Cassandra threw at him.

Cassandra went wide-eyed. "You are?! Why didn't- earlier flight? Why didn't you call me? Oh… right… just stay put, I'm coming," she hung up the phone. "Can I borrow your car?"

"Well, you're happier than I left you," Nick smirked.

"Nick, shut up and gimme your car keys," Cassandra sighed.

"Why?" Nick asked.

"Because Sara got an earlier flight to come here and is waiting at the airport now,"

Nick raised his eyebrows. "Come on," he jerked his head to the right, indicating for her to follow him. He got the keys off a rack. "Why didn't you tell me in the first place?" he tossed them to her.

Cassandra caught them and frowned. "I should really stab you in the eye with one of these," she opened the front door, then looked back at him. "You coming or not?"

"After that threat, who would?" Nick chuckled. "And if I'm coming along, why did I need to give you the keys?"

"Shut up and get out here!"


	8. Good to Be Back

**A/N: Okay, figured get this up before the season premiere. Enjoy.  
**

"You see her anywhere?" Nick asked. The two had been outside on the sidewalk of the arrivals section of the airport for the past few minutes, looking for Sara. Cassandra had told him look left, and she was looking right.

"No. This is crazy, she got in forty-five minutes ago. Even getting to the baggage claim and getting bags wouldn't take that long," Cassandra replied.

"And neither would looking towards those two doors, you two,"

Cassandra turned and grinned at the brunette who was now on her left. "Saz!" she threw her arms around her sister.

Sara hugged her back, laughing at the nickname she had since they were teenagers. "Hey Cass. Sorry I took a while. Some jackass kept coming onto me when I got a drink waiting for you guys," she pulled away, then looked at Nick and rocked back and forth from heel to toe. "Nick…"

"Sara…" Nick replied, smiling weakly.

The two just stared at each other for a while. It was awkward seeing each other after a number of months, and their silence wasn't making the situation any better.

Cassandra noticed that it was even getting awkward for her. She coughed and bumped into Sara, causing her sister to stumble forward, right into Nick's arms, and hers went under his, so they were pretty much hugging.

Nick chuckled and tightened his grip on her, making it an official hug. "Thanks, Cass," he rolled his eyes, then let Sara go so he could put her suitcase in his car.

Sara smiled, then looked at Cassandra. "So, anything new in the past hour?"

"No, thank God," Cassandra replied.

Sara nodded. "That's good. Let's talk on the way back home. I'm tired, and traffic's gonna be a bitch,"

"I'm game for that!" Nick nodded. "I'll drive,"

--

A few minutes later they arrived back at Nick's house and set everything down in the guest room since Cassandra had decided to sleep on the couch and give Sara the room. They had just gotten fully settled and Nick had just begun to get drinks for everyone when there was a knock at the door. He went down the hall and opened it, surprised to see Gil. "Grissom! Why are you here at this hour?"

"Couldn't wait to tell Cassie something that I just found out. Can I come in?"

Nick motioned towards the kitchen, trying to hide a grin. "Go right ahead,"

Gil stepped inside and headed for the kitchen. "I just did some research that may help us with the case that Cassie may like hearing. It's about that last victim. I remember hearing about a listed relative of his from…" Gil cut himself off and froze when he saw Sara. "…Sara," he stared at her for a while.

After a while of dead silence, Nick and Cassandra found themselves in an awkward situation for the second time that night. They exchanged looks before making a B-line out of the room to give the couple privacy, but that didn't last too long. Curiosity got the better of them. Nick leaned on the wall a few feet away from the entrance so he wouldn't be seen while he pressed his ear to it, and Cassandra ducked under him to do the same. _Morality be damned._

"So… uh… I trust you've been… well… since the last time I saw you?" Gil asked.

"Yeah, I've been fine,"

"How's your mother?" Gil asked.

Nick and Cassandra snorted, then stopped and looked at each other, realizing their slip. They grinned at each other.

'Why is he making small talk?' Nick mouthed.

'It helps with awkward situations, genius," Cassandra whispered.

Nick rolled his eyes.

The conversation inside hadn't progressed much. Actually, it hadn't progressed at all. ""I'm glad to hear it," Gil replied.

"Yeah, so was I," Sara agreed.

Nick and Cassandra exchanged looks when her voice seemed to be getting a bit to loud, then both jumped back and covered their ear that had been at the wall, because something had just slammed into it, which made a loud bang that they reacted to. When they saw Sara poke her head out of the kitchen and cock an eyebrow at them, they realized she had punched it.

"Hi. Do you two mind?" Sara demanded.

Nick and Cassandra's shoulders sunk and they retreated back down the hallway towards the bedrooms when she went back inside. They immediately went back to where they originally were, but Sara had beat them to it and was at the kitchen entrance, glowering at them. The glare made them retreat fully into the guest room.

"Well, we tried," Cassandra sighed, collapsing on the futon.

" 'Tried'? Darlin', we haven't stopped," Nick grinned, then got the drinking glass in the corner. "This room and the kitchen share a vent," he pointed at the vent by the floor and bent down, loosening it. "Sad thing is that I learned that from the stalker guy I told you about. If we just…" he got the grate loose so he could get closer, then jumped when there was yet another bang that echoed.

"I MEAN IT, NICK!" Sara yelled.

Nick frowned and hung his head when he heard Gil laughing, then looked at Cassandra, who was now rolling around laughing on the futon. "Laugh it up," he growled.

"Don't mind if I do," Cassandra replied through fits of laughter.

Nick sighed and chuckled. "Fine. Sidle's one, Grissom one, Stokes zero," he sat down on the floor by the futon. "So how long do you think they'll be?" he asked once Cassandra had sat up.

"Dunno. They're both annoyingly stubborn so we could be here a while," Cassandra replied.

Nick nodded, then reached over to the nightstand in the room, opened the drawer and pulled out a bag of chips. "I knew putting these in there would come in handy someday!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Cassandra was in fits of laughter again.

"No, I'm not," Nick replied, then held the bag up to her. "Want a few?"

"Not now, thanks," Cassandra shook her head then picked up Sara's backpack that was at the head of the bed and started fishing through it, pulling out a bag of peanuts. She nodded, satisfied, then opened it and tipped it so a few went into her mouth, then she flicked a couple at Nick.

Nick grinned. "I could care less about peanuts themselves, it's peanut butter I have a problem with, so you can't get me there,"

"Oh really?" Cassandra reached back into Sara's backpack and pulled out a package of Ritz sandwiches with peanut butter, then smirked at Nick.

"Oh, oh, no way! Now _you're_ kidding _me_!" Nick laughed.

"Nope," Cassandra opened the package, opened one of the sandwiches and tossed both ends at him.

Nick jumped up. "Oh, that's how you wanna work this, huh?" he flicked a chip at her.

The tossing soon turned into a mini-food fight for a few minutes until Gil came into the room. "You two done having middle school flashbacks?" he asked, taking the bag of chips from Nick and throwing a couple in his mouth. He had gained most of his color back from when he had gone pale after seeing Sara, and he was smiling. Both were good signs.

"Not yet," Cassandra replied, then picked up one of the side of the crackers that still and the peanut butter intact and put it facedown on Nick's head. "Now I am,"

Nick made a face and instantly went to work on getting the cracker off his head.

Cassandra grinned, happy at her victory, then looked back at Gil. "You wanted to see me about something?"

--

A few minutes later:

The four were now back around the kitchen table, talking.

Gil was pointing at a picture he had put down on the table. " And I was looking at a list of his friends, and it led to this guy, Jeremy Lewis, who I could've sworn I've heard about in the past, and I thought it was from you," he motioned at Sara.

Sara crossed her arms and shrugged. "Sorry, I really don't remember?"

Gil looked at Cassandra. "You? You were the one who recognized the vic after you saw Sara. Does that name ring a bell?"

Cassandra shrugged. " Jake, Lynn, Steph, Max, Sara here, and you guys. I don't have many close friends, and I doubt I'd recognize the name if I knew the guy, anyway. I'm not really a people person often," she replied.

"Wait a minute…" Sara murmured. "We're not people people…"

"Huh?" Cassandra asked.

Nick and Gil exchanged confused looks.

Sara smiled slowly. "That's it! We're not people people!"

"Sar, what are you talking about?!" Cassandra demanded.

Sara looked at her sister. "J.J, Cass. I'm talking about J.J,"

"And that means…?" Cassandra waved her hand in a circular motion.

Sara nodded. "Cass, six years back, New Years Eve party at my friend Carol's. J.J. There were two people who hit it off together and have been friends ever since. They claimed they weren't 'people people' at that party, and now when they're together, they call themselves…" she motioned at Cassandra.

Cassandra realized what she meant. "Call themselves J.J. Jake and Jeremy!"

Sara smiled. "Exactly!"

Nick crossed his arms. "Jake as in…" he nudged Cassandra's side. "Your Jake?"

"Uh huh," Cassandra nodded.

"So we have a lead?" Gil asked.

Cassandra nodded. "Yeah, we do. I'll call him first thing in the morning… er… later than this, though,"

"Right," Gil nodded.

The four looked at each other, exchanging even more smiles.

Gil's biggest smile was directed at Sara. "You may not be able to go on the field with us, but after that realization, there's only one thing left to say: Welcome back to the team,"

All Sara could do was smile right back at him. "Good to be back,"


	9. Right Freakin' Now

The next day, Jim had come to a revelation. He had never seen someone the chair opposite him in the interrogation room as relaxed as he found Jake.

Jake was sitting in the stiff, hard chair with his arms folded behind his head, and his feet on the table. He was looking around with his signature smile, as if the room was some wide open field with blue skies and not a dark and dreary box.

Jim snorted. "Feel free to make yourself comfortable, Jake,"

Jake shrugged. "I don't got anythin' to hide, Boss. I told you. Jeremy's girl Sofia was a sweet girl. I mean, we only spoke a couple of times, but you could just tell. I didn't even know that she and Sara knew each other, but it makes sense… I don't see a reason for anybody to kill her. She was nice to everyone, and they were nice back,"

"Well, apparently one person wasn't so nice," Jim pointed out.

Jake shrugged again and nodded. "Guess so,"

Jim thought for a moment. "When was the last time you saw either of them,"

Jake looked to the side. His mouth twitched, trying to remember. "Two months, I think. Camping trip. Me, Jem, and our girls,"

Jim chuckled at the use of the nickname from To Kill a Mockingbird. "Did either of them seem… out of it… different, distracted? Did either of them mention any trouble at home?"

Again, Jake's mouth twitched as he tried to remember.

On the other side of the wall:

Gil leaned towards Cassandra. "His mouth twitching isn't his tell, is it?" he had let her come in to get helpful hints at reading Jake. It worked well.

Cassandra shook her head. "No. His tell's scratching his right elbow. He's telling the truth, that much I know,"

The two stood in silence for a while until they spotted Jake's phone vibrate.

Back in the Interrogation room.

Jake glanced from the phone to Jim.

Jim waved his hand, dismissing the unasked question. He glanced at the Caller I.D for him. "Max Schmidt," he informed the younger man as he handed him the phone.

Jake hit talk and brought it to his ear. " Max, can't really talk right- whoa, whoa, slow down! Who's talking to you in the background? Max, what're you- what? What do you mean gun? Max, Max…" he suddenly went pale when he heard what was undoubtedly a gunshot on the other end. He looked up at Jim, noticing even he looked surprised. He had obviously heard it too, even if he was a couple of feet away. "MAX?!" he yelled into the phone, then swallowed hard when he heard Max groan. "He's in trouble,"

Jim nodded quickly and got up walking out of the room. He got his walkie-talkie and started barking orders into it, paying no heed to Gil or Cassandra when he left.

Gil and Cassandra raised an eyebrow at each other, then noticed Jake was yanking on his jacket.

Cassandra looked down when she heard her phone ringing. She picked up, seeing it was Jake. "You're calling me and there's only a wall between us?"

"Shut up and start heading for the door," Jake replied firmly, still packing up his things inside the room. "We need to get to Max's place,"

"When?" Cassandra asked slowly.

"How's right freakin' now grab you?" Jake demanded, pressing his lips into a thin line as he looked at the wall of glass that stood between them.

"Why?" Cassandra continued to question him.

"I think Max just got shot,"

"WHAT?!"

------

Within minutes, Jake, Gil, Jim and a handful of other officers were at Max's home. Jim was quietly giving orders on who went where. They eventually got inside, looking for Max, or worse, the shooter.

Cassandra had just barely gotten into the living room when she spotted familiar dirty blonde hair sticking out from behind one of the couches. "MAX?!" She swore to herself, praying she wasn't too late, as well as hating that she was the first to find him. She ran over to the area and nearly vomited after seeing Max in a pool of blood that seemed to be coming from his side. "Oh my God. Oh my God," she heard Jake and Jim yell 'clear' a couple of rooms down, then they reached the room she was in. Jake also looked ready to vomit.

Jim pointed at Max. "Is this Max or the possible shooter?"

"Max," Jake and Cassandra replied simultaneously.

Jim nodded, then got out his cell phone and dialed a number. "We need medical help now,"

Cassandra didn't hear the rest of his request because her attention was snapped back to Max when she heard him cough weakly. "Max?!" she looked him in the eye and cradled his head, rocking it back and forth gently. "Max, stay with me. Be strong. Don't you dare leave me, okay?" she took his hand in hers and squeezed it. "I'm right here with you," she assured him, then shook her head when he seemed to attempt to talk. "Easy. Don't say anything right now. Just relax,"

Max groaned again then pointed at his jeans pocket with his free hand.

Cassandra followed his finger, then spotted a piece of paper in his pocket. She didn't believe she still had the control to ask Gil for tweezers since the man had just walked in. Gil saw what she did then handed a pair to her, curious as to why she wanted them, until he spotted the paper as well.

"Looks like a note," he pointed out.

"That's exactly why I'm doing this, Gil," Cassandra replied. As though it seemed like it should have, the comment was not sarcastic or malicious in any way. She took them and used the tweezers to get the note out, then open it.

_Sidles-_

_Three, who knows how man left to go until you get the point. You made my life miserable. Let's see how you like it._ _So, you decide. How many people will I have to hurt until you finally realize who's doing it and learn from your mistakes? I hope for your sake, only a few, but don't get me wrong. I will not hesitate in hurting any of the others._

"What the Hell?" Cassandra murmured.

Gil read it over her shoulder. "… 'Made my life miserable'?"

Cassandra shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted. However, as much as it seemed inappropriate, she was relieved about the note. Why? Because it confirmed her fear that someone was actually targeting her and Sara. She could stop guessing and worrying… too much. She frowned, seeing Max's head shift to the side. His eyes closed. "Max, no!" she murmured. She looked up at the others when she heard an ambulance siren. "Is that for us?"

"Hopefully," Gil nodded.

Jim nodded. "It is. They'll be here within seconds, by the sounds of it. Who's going with him in there? Jake or Cassie?"

Jake pointed at Cassandra. "She's his foster sister, I'm his friend. Sister beats friend any and every day,"

Cassandra got up and hugged him. "Thank you,"

Jake hugged back. "Any time, C.J. I'll be right behind you, anyway,"

A few more minutes passed as the medics came and got Max strapped up to a gurney and into the ambulance, then drove to Las Vegas General. Cassandra was by Max's side the entire time until he was passed through the E.R. doors. Even if she knew that it wasn't allowed for her not to go back there and it was the right thing to do to stay put, she still felt like she was abandoning him. She sighed and turned around, sitting in one of the seats in the row by the doors. She looked up when she saw Jake come through the entry doors, followed by Gil and Jim. However, she didn't expect to see Nick come through another set of doors that went into the room they now were all in. Nick looked as confused as they were. Cassandra hurried over to Nick. "Nicky, what're you doing here?!"

"Me, what're you doing here?!" Nick asked, meeting her halfway.

"Max got shot, what about you?" Cassandra asked, then noticed Nick frowned. "…What?" she leaned back to study him more.

Nick closed his eyes and exhaled sharply. "I'm sorry to hear that, and then I have news that's gonna make this night even worse,"

"What is it?" Cassandra asked slowly.

Nick glanced over at the E.R doors, then hung his head again, kicking at the floor tile he was standing on. "…Max isn't alone in there,"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cassandra demanded.

"Warrick, Cass. It's Warrick. He's been shot, too,"


	10. You Need a Vacation

**A/N: Thank you CSIvsHP and Hope06 for the reviews. I don't own CSI, blah blah, movin on. **

The waiting room of Las Vegas General was packed with people from the crime lab, waiting with baited breath to hear anything about Warrick and Max. Wendy and Hodges were sitting in the two chairs by the door, then every chair along the adjacent wall was occupied. Gil took the seat next to the door, Sara was to his right, then came Nick, Cassandra, Jake, Jim, Catherine, Greg and Ronnie. The wall adjacent to that one had Al, David, and Mandy in the seats, then others including Tina were scattered in the seats in the middle of the room.

The fact that Jim kept getting up and pacing didn't help anyone's nerves. Jake had his hand on Cassandra's knee and gave it a reassuring squeeze any time they looked at each other. Cassandra also had her head on Nick's shoulder and his arm was around her own shoulders, for more emotional support than anything. It was the same deal with Hodges and Wendy, Greg and Ronnie, and Gil and Sara. There were several times where Hodges tried to crack a joke about a guy that he met in a bar the past weekend, but it only helped for a moment.

When a doctor came into the room, everyone was surprised that the floor didn't cave in because everyone got to their feet as fast as they could.

The doctor looked at all of them, waiting for the ruckus to stop, then spoke up. "I take you're all here for Mr. Brown and Mr. Schmidt?"

Nobody wanted to talk. They all looked around uneasily.

The doctor nodded, understanding the silence. "I'm told that there's Mr. Brown's ex-wife and Mr. Schmidt's foster sisters here…?"

Tina, Cassandra and Sara all got up slowly.

The doctor smiled at them. "Hi, I'm Doctor Peter Lewis. Can I speak with you?"

The sisters and Tina exchanged looks, then looked back at the crowd before following him inside the room.

Everyone outside tensed up when they saw Tina frown deeply when Peter spoke to her and the sisters go pale when he spoke to them, but none of them had a breakdown, so that seemed to be a good sign. They soon came out, and Sara and Tina spoke quietly, then went into the center of the room to report what they heard.

"Max is gonna be in the hospital for a while healing, and so is Warrick…" Sara began.

Tina nodded. "Warrick is worse, though, since he got a chest shot. He's in a coma, and they're not sure when he may wake up…" she trailed off and looked down.

Sara stepped in and finished for her. " They know he will, though. It's just a matter of time," they explained.

The spirits of the people in the room lifted a bit, knowing that their friends had hope. They all started talking among themselves now, saying how much they knew that Warrick or Max was going to pull through and whatnot.

Nick had just pulled away from hugging Greg when he realized something. Cassandra had disappeared. He looked around for the room for her and didn't find her. Worry came over him briefly since he had heard about the note, then told himself she wouldn't have gone off alone to set him or her up. She was too smart to do that. He looked around, then thought of one option. He headed for the exit and walked out of the building, towards the stairs leading to the parking lot, then sighed in relief, seeing her sitting on one of the steps about halfway down. He saw that she was hunched over, her knees tucked close to her body, her arms folded on her knees and her head resting on her arms, so he debated whether or not to approach her, then decided to do so. "Hey, Cass! There you are!" he sat next to her.

"Go away, Nick," Cassandra grumbled into her arms.

Nick frowned. "What's wrong? Aren't you happy that Max and Warrick are gonna be okay?!"

She lifted her head and glared at him. "Of course I am!"

Nick opened his mouth slightly when he saw that her eyes were glossy. "Cass? … Cass, are you crying? Are you alright?"

"No, Nick! I'm not alright, okay?! Warrick and Max nearly died today because someone's after Sara and I! It feels like Sara and I are the ones who put them here!" she motioned back at the hospital.

Nick shook his head and put his arm around her. "Hey, that's not true and you know it. You guys weren't the ones who pulled the trigger. I know how that must feel. It doesn't mean you have to distance yourselves from the people who care about you in there," he shook her gently.

"We're the reason it was pulled, though, and yes it does," Cassandra murmured, then sighed. "Just leave me alone,"

"How can I when you're like this, huh?" Nick went to tuck a strand of her hair back behind her ear, but pulled back when she got to her feet quickly and walked a few feet away before turning to him.

"You don't get it, do you?!" she yelled at him.

Nick opened his mouth and shut it quickly, completely stunned.

Cassandra pinched the bridge of her nose and turned around so her back was facing him. "Criminals are always true to point in notes like the one found on Max. Beth, Max, Warrick. They're gonna keep trying to kill people close to me. I don't want any of you to get hurt or killed, you most of all. Out of all the new people I've met here, you've been the kindest to me. I don't wanna lose you,"

Nick took a couple of steps forward. "I don't wanna lose you, either. Cass, I nearly lost my best friend tonight. You're a great girl. I don't wanna see the you I've come to care about go turn into some guilt ridden, depressed… stranger. I'm your friend. If you think trying to keep me away from you to protect me is gonna work, you've got another thing coming, because if this is the way things are playing out, I'm hell bend on being the one to protect you. Jake just said it, so I might as well, too. I'm behind you no matter what, because that's what friends do!"

She blinked twice, staring at him.

Nick was suddenly worried again, seeing her bite her lip. He thought he had just made things worse by causing her to cry more, so he was taken by total surprise when she suddenly launched herself at him, putting her arms under his, then hooked them around his back, then she tucked her head under his neck and started crying harder than she had been.

"I'm sorry," she murmured.

He sighed and wrapped his arms around her waist, keeping her close. "It's okay," he murmured. He gently kissed the top of her head and stroked her hair.

"…Nick?"

Nick looked back slightly, but still enough that he wouldn't disturb Cassandra. He saw it was Gil.

Gil pointed at Cassandra and mouthed if she was alright.

Nick frowned and sent him a 'You've got to be kidding' look.

Gil shrugged.

Nick sighed. "She should be soon," he replied. "Is Sara stayin' with you tonight?"

Gil nodded.

Nick looked at Cassandra again, then back at Gil. "I'm just gonna take her home. Tell everyone we said goodnight, alright?"

Gil nodded again, then with one final look at Cassandra, he went back inside.

The next morning:

Cassandra groaned and attempted to flip over when she woke up, but found that she couldn't. She looked down and found an unknown arm along her back. She looked to the side and found Nick was next to her on the bed. She contained a scream, but didn't manage to stop herself from falling off the bed. She quickly got up, trying to remember the night before. She looked down, relieved to find that she was still fully clothed in the outfit she was in the previous night, belt and all, and she was even more relieved when she saw Nick was also in the clothes from the previous night. She sighed in relief and pulled herself upright when she did manage to remember what happened.

It had started off like some "Hot Shots" type comedy since she had fallen asleep in Nick's car and he couldn't wake her up so he resorted to carrying her inside, accidentally making her hit her head on the doorframe on the way inside. She was awake for just enough time to give him a piece of her mind, then collapsed onto the guest room bed. Nick had told her that he knew she wouldn't go after the person who had attacked Warrick and Max by setting up a trap for him, but wasn't sure about her doing anything "stupid" . Any C.S.I would know that "something stupid" was now almost always attempting suicide. She told him she wouldn't, but he didn't trust her so he had lay down next to her. She had complained that it was like him babysitting her, but when he didn't give in, she gave up and let sleep take her.

She trusted him, though. He didn't seem like the man who would try anything sleazy. She remembered it was Saturday, the group's day off. _Great. Just great. This is gonna be slow torture. _She left the room to make coffee for them when she spotted that she had a message on her phone. She checked the voicemail, cursing the phone for going through the options slower than she would've liked it too. It finally started playing the messages.

"_**Hey, Cassafrass. It's Jake. I mean, who else would call you at this hour other than Asshole Josh… you know what I just realized? Now you know a lot of 'J''s, don't you? Josh, Jake, Jim, Jeremy… that's besides the point. I called to check up on you, make sure you were okay after last night. Oh, and by the way, Greg stole my nickname. Stay away from Brass Sunday when he's around, okay? Long story, and knowing 'Greggo', he'll tell it. All right, I'll see you sometime shortly. See ya, sister-from-another-mother, Call me! … If I ever say anything like that again, shoot me with my own gun, you got that? I'm just gonna stop talking. Love ya. Bye.**_**" **

There was a beep, indicating the message was over. Cassandra looked at the phone. "That boy really needs to learn to shut up once in a while," she murmured to herself. She got the coffee set and groaned, hearing her phone ring. "Can you guys stop checking up on me?" she demanded, walking back over to it. She hit talk. "Sidle,"

"Hey sis, how are you?"

Cassandra sighed. She could deal with Sara. "Not so good, you?"

"Same. Get any sleep?"

"Barely. You?"

"Same again… I hope Nick's treating you alright after that," Sara replied.

"Yeah, he was fine. He's still sleeping right now,"

Sara laughed. "Sounds like him. He's a good guy, Cassie,"

"Yeah, I know. He wouldn't leave my side last night. Ended up dozing off next to me,"

Sara laughed again. "At least he's taking everything somewhat good,"

"Lucky him," Cassandra mumbled.

Sara sighed. "Max and Warrick are gonna pull through, Cass. They're both strong in every sense of the word. They'll be as good as new in no time,"

"Thanks, Sar," Cassandra smiled.

"No problem… Gil's just put breakfast down on the table, so I'm gonna go. Hang in there. I love you,"

"Love you too. Bye," Cassandra hung up. She glanced at the clock. It was only 9:30 in the morning. She found herself out of things to do, so she ran out the door quickly and got the paper, bringing it inside. She started thumbing through it, nearly tearing it from attempting to pass the headline of "33-Year-Old Man Found Shot in His Home".

"It's freaking following me, now," she muttered to herself. She kept trying to find another story to focus on, but couldn't, and since she couldn't bring herself to read the article on her brother, she gave up and went back into the guest room and starting going through some of Sara's outfits to wear since her own home still hadn't been cleared, not feeling like wearing another one of Nick's shirts and the pair of jeans she had been wearing everyday since Beth's murder. She settled for Sara's navy blue tye-dyed shirt and a pair of jeans that were about a size or two too small, so she had to squeeze into them and found it hard to breathe the first few minutes she was in them. She poured two cups of coffee and set them on the kitchen counter, then went into the living room and collapsed onto one of the couches, starting to think to herself, making up a mental list of people that she would have to check up on. She must've been staring at it for a while, because she had zoned out until someone clearing their throat startled her enough to make her fall off the couch.

"Ooh, that's gotta hurt. You know, if you had kept staring you woulda' ended up burning a hole in my ceiling,"

Cassandra got back on the couch. "Thank you, Captain Obvious," she glared at Nick, who was in the doorway, coffee already in hand.

Nick shrugged. "Again, I should know about the ceiling, I had a-"

"Stalker, yes, I know," Cassandra's glare turned playful.

Nick shrugged. "Hey, you'll regret cutting me off when you end up having a stalker…" he went to continue, then stopped. "… Not really an appropriate time for that comeback, huh?"

"Yeah," Cassandra nodded once.

Nick also nodded, then sat on the couch next to her. "Thanks for the coffee, by the way," he turned on the T.V.

**"Max Schmidt was found shot in his home yesterday-"**

Click.

**"You thought killing everyone around me was going to get me closer-"**

Click.

**"Sick of losing your friend thanks to stupid people?"**

Cassandra grabbed the pillow next to her and slammed her head into it before screaming into it as well.

"Sorry. Workin' on it," Nick muttered.

"**The dog's name… is Cannibal?" **

Nick poked Cassandra after nodding, satisfied at what was now on the T.V. " How does 'The Ref' work for you? It's funny and nobody dies!" he offered.

"Whatever,"

Nick changed the channel again.

"_**Open the gates and seize the day!" **_

Nick looked back at her. " 'Newsies' or 'The Ref'? In other words, kid who'll grow up into one of Hollywood's 'hottest' actors, or a kickass Christmas movie?"

Cassandra felt around for the clicker, then changed it back to "The Ref" without looking at the screen. "You're worse than Jake," she growled into the pillow. She looked up when she heard the doorbell ring.

"I'll get it," Nick jumped back up and went to the door. He opened it and raised an eyebrow, but smiled when he saw it was Catherine. "Cath…" he greeted.

Catherine nodded, then elbowed her way passed him and went into the living room. "Cute. I think it actually works better on you then it does on Sara,"

Cassandra looked down, realizing she meant the shirt. "Oh, thanks,"

"Any time," Catherine nodded.

Cassandra threw her legs over the side of the couch and sat up. "What brings you here?"

Catherine smirked. "We are kidnapping you for the day. You need a vacation right now,"

Before Cassandra could even ask what she meant, Catherine had grabbed her hand and started dragging her out the door. Without much choice, Cassandra took Nick's arm and pulled him along, not knowing what was in store for her.


	11. Into the Night

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews. I don't own Chad Kroeger and Santana's "Into the Night". Enjoy. I worked hard on this chap, ya know!!!!**

Cassandra yelped when Catherine practically shoved her into the 4x4 waiting for her. "What the Hell, Cath?!" she demanded after Catherine had reached over and buckled her seatbelt.

Catherine ignored her and looked at Nick. "Do I need to shove you in there, too?" she asked.

Nick put his hands up quickly and got in the 4X4, climbing over Cassandra to get in the back.

It was now that Cassandra finally noticed that Gil was in the middle seat, and Sara was in the front co-passenger seat. "Gil?! Greg?! Sara?!"

Gil lifted his arms, showing that they were bound together by bungee chord, and the same went for his ankles. "Does it look like I had a choice? We put on quite a show for my neighbors,"

Cassandra blinked, then looked over at Greg. "What's your story?"

"If it helps, I have no clue where we're headed to, I was just bored," Greg admitted, then grinned. "And who wouldn't wanna spend the day with his favorite CSI team, huh?" he reached over Gil and poked Cassandra's cheek. "Huh, huh?" he pulled back and stuck his tongue out at her when she attempted to bite him. She sighed when Catherine climbed into the driver's seat and pulled out of the driveway, starting on their way to wherever they were going. "This is a Jake thing to do, not a Catherine thing to do,"

"Well, I _did_ come up with it, but she helped,"

Cassandra turned her head, not expecting to see Jake's face about an inch from hers when she was done turning. "JESUS!" she jumped. Jake was in the middle back seat, Ronnie was in the left, and Nick was on the right. "… Hodges isn't strapped to the roof, is he?"

"No," everyone chimed, then paused and grinned wickedly, imagining the under-appreciated man in the said predicament.

Cassandra sighed. "You guys are sick, you know that?"

"But you love us anyway," Jake replied, pinching her cheek, using the same deep exaggerated voice as Greg had when he talked about being with his favorite CSI team.

Cassandra rolled her eyes. "I knew you two would hit it off. Knew it!" she turned on Nick. "And you, don't you even talk to me! You knew about this, didn't you?!"

Nick laughed. "I swear to God, no!"

"Then why were you so willing to do this?!"

"To help you like I said I would last night-" he glared at Jake and Greg when the two men went 'Oooooooooh'. "-And it's Catherine, and she may be armed. Do you REALLY wanna mess with her if she's armed?"

Cassandra paused. "Good point,"

Nick smirked. "Thank you,"

Jake elbowed his way forward so he was between them. "So… what _exactly_ did you two _do_ last night?"

Cassandra narrowed her eyes. "He dragged me back to his place and we had hot, long, comfort sex, Jake. That's why I didn't return your call,"

"Really?!" Jake seemed to perk up, then laughed when Cassandra shoved him backwards into the back of his seat, then Nick smacked his arm.

"Catfight!" Greg called.

The other women in the car laughed.

After the whacks stopped coming, Jake put his hands up. "Okay, Uncle, Uncle!"

Cassandra took one final jab at his knee, then gave up. "You better give up. Now… what the Hell are you doing here, anyway? Weren't you on duty today?"

"Ya know, Brass can be nice one in a blue moon. He gave me the day off to help these guys," he motioned at everyone in the car but Cassandra and Nick. "He knew we're close, and figured you needed me. Face it, you do. You'd be lost without me,"

"Keep telling yourself that," Cassandra smirked, then looked at Gil, then motioned at the bungee cords. "You want help with those now that you're where they want you to be?"

"Please," Gil nodded.

"One condition," Cassandra pointed at him.

"Why didn't I see this coming?" Gil asked, more to himself than anyone.

"You tell me where we're going," Cassandra replied.

"Deal!" Gil nodded, then held up his hands again for her.

"NO! GRISSOM!" Catherine objected. "Come on!"

Gil just smirked at her when Cassandra undid the bungee cords holding his wrists together. He thanked her when she got the chords on his ankles off. "As promised, Sunset Mall,"

"A mall…" Cassandra blinked at him, then looked right, towards Catherine and Sara. "A mall? You kidnapped me… to take me to a damned mall?"

Nick and Greg were now laughing hysterically, both at her reaction, the way she said it as if they were taking her to Hell, and all the trouble that they went through was just for a mall. "Aw, come on, Cass! They're tryin' to get your mind off the shit goin' on. What's so wrong about a mall anyway?" Nick asked.

Cassandra shook her head. "Ha! Sure, to you, 'mall' means Game Stop, Electronics Boutique, FYE, whatever floats your boat. To my sister, I have no doubt Ronnie, and probably to Catherine, 'mall' means…"

---

"…Clothes shopping," Cassandra repeated her answer from the fan as the team made their way into a clothing store after they reached the mall. She looked around cautiously, then glared at Sara and Ronnie when she noticed they were looking from a number of outfits, then looked at her and started talking quietly together. That was never good in her mind.

"Aww, I'm sure you love it deep down," Catherine laughed.

"Oh, right. Love it, yeah. I DREAD DOING THIS!" Cassandra pointed out.

"Oh, she loves it," Jake said, leaning towards Catherine.

Nick chuckled. "Yeah, Cass. It's called being a girl. You should try it sometime!"

Cassandra smirked. " It's called 'my foot's gonna be up your ass if you have another comment like that'!"

"Ooh, burned!" Greg laughed.

"Shut up, Greg," Nick growled.

"Aww, Nicky doesn't like getting picked on," Cassandra laughed.

Catherine also laughed, then looked over an outfit on one of the racks. She looked at the piles of clothes that Sara and Ronnie had, then nodded, satisfied. "That'll do it for now. Fitting room time. Hey boys, would you mind holding-"

And every man who had been with the women was now gone without a trace.

Catherine blinked. "…And I wasn't even going to say purse," she could've sworn she saw Greg's head peak out from behind a display a few feet away, but a moment later it was gone. She turned back to her friends. "Well, either way, let's get this 'torture' started,"

--

"Come on, Cass! Come out, let us see it!" Sara called for the third time in the fitting room. They had literally shoved Cassandra into one of the fitting rooms with an outfit, then took the clothes that she was wearing when she had gotten out of them to change half-heartedly into the new outfit. Of course, it wasn't very nice of them to take her clothes, but it was probably going to end up worth it.

"Hell no! Gimme your shirt and my jeans back!"

"Cass, come on," Sara pressed.

"It can't be that bad," Gil added. He was the first of the men to return. Jake, Greg, and Nick still hadn't.

"It's low cut, it's floral, and it's short, as is the skirt. I don't wear floral and I don't wear skirts. Ronnie, write this down!"

"Please, Cass?" Ronnie rocked back and forth from heel to toe.

"Will you give me my clothes back?" Cassandra asked.

"Sure," Catherine sighed.

"Fine,"

The curtain was tugged to the side and Cassandra stepped out in the said floral halter and short black skirt. If looks could kill, each woman she looked at would've been dead on the spot.

"It looks good, Cassie!" Sara reassured her.

"Yeah!" Ronnie agreed.

"No doubt about it," Catherine agreed.

"Yeah, whatever. Clothes, please,"

Catherine handed her the blue top and jeans, then Sara held out a red shirt for her.

"No," Cassandra said bluntly, looking at the new shirt presented. "Just no,"

"What's wrong now?" Sara groaned.

"It's red. I don't do red, either," Cassandra replied.

Sara opened her mouth, but Catherine put her hand on her shoulder to silence her. She smirked. "I got this one, Sara. Trust me," she smiled at Cassandra. "Really? Don't do red? You didn't seem to mind the other day when Nick lent you his red Texas T-Shirt. So it's red, but you don't mind if it's Nick's? Aw, that's really cute! Jake was right about one thing, you do-" she held in a laugh when Cassandra grabbed the shirt out of Sara's hands.

"I was being polite," Cassandra muttered before going back into the booth.

"Oh, she SO digs him,"

Catherine laughed, already recognizing the voice of newly-returned Jake, who was leaning towards her yet again. "You think?"

"I can hear you!" Cassandra called from inside.

Catherine and Jake were silent for a matter of seconds before Jake continued. "Hell yeah. Even I wouldn't have come up with that one. Nice!" Jake slapped five with her.

Catherine shook her head and smiled. "I may like you yet, Jake,"

Jake smiled back. "Excellent,"

Catherine looked behind them. "Where are the other two?"

"Getting food. Anything to avoid holding your purse, "

"Have any of you even heard 'I'm Still a Guy'?" Catherine asked.

"I'm sure Nick has, and yes, I have. That's the reason I'm back before them,"

Catherine raised an eyebrow.

Jake shrugged, then lifted one arm. "Woo, Brad Paisley!" he cheered dully.

Catherine laughed again. A couple of minutes later, Nick and Greg came back, a drink in Greg's hand, and a burger in one of Nick's hands and a bag in his other.

Catherine raised an eyebrow. "None for us?"

Nick held out the bag for her, then sat down in the leather chair. Gil followed suit. "So, what's she trying now?"

Ronnie fished through one of the racks, then showed Nick the shirt.

Nick nodded and made a sound of approval that came from the back of his throat.

Cassandra came out in the shirt, and it came out form-fitting. She looked totally mortified. She failed to notice Nick cough a bit. However, Jake and Catherine didn't.

Jake leaned towards Catherine yet again. "Sha la la la la my oh my," he sung in a whisper while leaning back so neither Nick nor Cassandra could hear him.

Cassandra looked at them. "What're you going on about? What is this today, 'The Jake and Catherine Show'?"

Jake paused, then nodded. "Hey, that has a nice ring to it, doesn't it Catherine?"

"Why yes it does, Jake," Catherine agreed. A moment later, both of them were laughing hysterically again.

Cassandra frowned. "I hate to say this, but it's funny that a bad occurrence brings out a totally new side to both of you. Catherine, your humorous side is just scary,"

"Hey, Cass, we need it. Now shut up and get a new shirt," Jake pointed at Ronnie and Sara who were now going through the shirts.

"Love you too," Cassandra rolled her eyes.

"I know you do, C.J," Jake winked.

Cassandra sighed, then took a shirt from her sister. It was a blue halter that wasn't low cut. "Ah, finally something I could live with,"

Jake pointed at the top. "Hey Nick, if that's 'something she could live with', wouldn't that make you that top in a different color or somethin'?"

Nick and Cassandra both looked at him. "Are you _drunk_?" they asked simultaneously.

Jake shrugged. "I hope not. Am I? That would be bad, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, he's smashed," Cassandra nodded.

"Uh huh," Everyone else agreed.

A few hours passed. The girls were happy to have succeeded in making Cassandra buy a couple of pairs of jeans and tops, then the rest of the afternoon they went to other shops, like the ones Cassandra had mentioned before and a few more clothing stores, but those times, Cassandra downright refused to go in so she stayed with the men outside when the other women went in to shop for themselves. Before anyone knew it, the evening had come and they all went to a club for a bite to eat and maybe a dance or two before they called it a night. Gil had refused to go, so they all gave in and dropped him home before they went.

Jake had barely walked two steps in before the longhaired brunette bartender got their attention by waving his arms.

"Just so you people know, he's cut off already!" the bartender called.

Jake looked at him, then grinned. "Oh, hey, Coleman!" he waved.

Coleman just looked at him and grunted a bit before going to help another patron.

Cassandra looked at Jake. "…What do you do that Lynn and I aren't aware of?"

Jake chuckled. "Ah, but the question is what do you do that Lynn and I aren't aware of?"

Cassandra blinked, then grabbed his arm. "Come on, genius," she dragged him over to the booth Catherine and Sara had just sat down at.

Jake raised one pointer finger. "One goal of the night, people. Get Cassie here smashed, then get her a new boyfriend, or better yet, laid,"

Cassandra turned red and turned towards Nick since he was on her right. "Kill me now, please,"

"What fun would that be?" Nick asked.

Cassandra lifted her head when a familiar song she liked started playing. "As fun as enjoying this song," she replied.

Nick noticed her smile, so he knew it was a positive song, then grinned when he recognized it. "Ah. Into the Night. You like them, then you gotta dance. Catherine should know. I made her dance at the club we saw John Mayer at. Order later, dance now, c'mon!" he offered his hand.

"Hell no! I don't dance!" Cassandra shook her head.

"Is 'Hell no' your phrase of the day or something? Come on, dance!"

"I don't dance," Cassandra repeated.

Nick grinned. "I know you can!"

Cassandra caught on. "Not a chance, no," she smirked when he looked surprised. "Jake's neice loves the song," she explained.

"And you obviously love this one, so let's go!" Nick stood up and took her hand.

Before Cassandra could decline again, he had already yanked her off of the seat and had started weaving his way towards the dance floor as the vocals of the song finally began.

_**Like a gift from the heavens **_

_**It was easy to tell**_

_**It was love from above that could save me from Hell**_

_**She had fire in her soul**_

_**It was easy to see**_

_**How the devil himself could be pulled out of me**_

Back at the table, when Jake spotted Nick and Cassandra on the dance floor and saw Nick had finally succeeded in getting her to dance since her arms were around his neck and his hands were on her waist, he couldn't take it anymore. "FINALLY!"

Catherine slowly smiled. "You're not drunk at all, are you?"

Jake shook his head. "No ma'am. Haven't had a drink for some time now. Coleman's an old pal. I called him when the boys and I ran away earlier. Told him to say I was cut off,"

Catherine couldn't help but laugh. "You really want those two together, don't you?"

"Is it that obvious? I just want her away from Josh, and Nick's freakin' awesome!" Jake called over the music.

_**Keeping time with their hands**_

_**And we sing **_

_**A-o-a-o-a-o-a**_

_**And the voices ring like the angels sing **_

_**Singin' **_

_**A-o-a-o-a-o-a**_

**_And danced on into the night_**

Nick laughed. "I thought you said you couldn't dance!" he commented since they seemed to be doing fine.

"That's just because you're looking at my face and not my legs. Totally uncoordinated!"

Nick laughed. "Well, either way, you can't tell. You're still good,"

"Fine. Thank you. Are you happy, now?" Cassandra asked.

Nick nodded. "You bet!"

_**Like a peice to the puzzle**_

_**It falls into place**_

_**You could tell how we felt**_

_**From the look on our faces**_

_**Spinning in circles**_

_**With the moon in our eyes**_

_**No room left to move **_

_**In between you and I**_

_**We forgot where we were**_

_**And we lost track of time**_

_**And we sang to the wind**_

_**And we danced through the night**_

Greg slowly grinned.

Jake noticed. "Uh oh, what's Max-in-Training have up his sleeve?"

Greg pointed at him. "You can be drunk, and so can I!"

"…What?" Jake asked.

"Watch and learn!" Greg replied, then got up and hurried over to the small stage in the corner where there was a microphone.

"Oh God," Catherine laughed, already having an idea of what he had up his sleeve.

"Should I be scared?" Jake asked.

"Very,"

_**Danced all into the night **_

_**A-O-A-O**_

**_Danced all into the night_**

_**A-O-A-O**_

"Uh uh, what's Greggo up to?" Cassandra asked, able to lower her voice slightly since the guitar solo was going on.

Nick looked up, then saw Greg heading for the stage at the front of the room. "… I have no idea. You think it's possible for him to get drunk so quickly?"

Cassandra shrugged. "Maybe he's sugar high or something's in the air,"

Nick laughed. "Could be,"

_**Like a gift from the heavens **_

_**It was easy to tell**_

_**It was love from above that could save me from hell**_

_**She had fire in her soul**_

_**It was easy to see**_

_**How the devil himself could be pulled out of me**_

Nick and Cassandra started laughing, seeing Greg was now on the stage singing along with the song.

"Should we get him down from there?" Cassandra called over Greg's voice mixed with the music.

Nick shook his head. "Nah, let's have the idiot who left the mic up there regret it, then save his ass after he finishes so we can mock him later,"

"Works for me,"

**_And we sing_**

_**A-o-a-o-a-o-a**_

_**And the voices ring like the angels sing **_

_**Singin' **_

_**A-o-a-o-a-o-a**_

**_And danced on into the night_**

_**A-O-A-O-A-O-A**_

_**And the voices ring like the angels sing**_

**_Danced all into the night_**

**_Singin' _**

_**A-o-a-o-a-o-a**_

_**And danced on into the night**_

_**A-o-a-o-a-o-a**_

_**A-o-a-o-a-o-a**_

_**Singin' **_

_**A-o-a-o-a-o-a**_

_**And danced on into the night**_

"Okay, now we save him," Nick told her.

"Yeah," Cassandra agreed. They made their way over to the stage and went to help Greg down.

Greg pointed upwards, making a 'one second' motion. He picked up the mic again. "Las Vegas, my name is Greg Sanders, and I wanna be a rockstar!"

There were a few cheers for him.

Cassandra took the mic out of his hands. "Okay, Greggo. Now I get why you love Nickelback. They made your theme song. Now let's go before you get hurt or get us hurt," she put his left arm over her shoulders and Nick did the same with his right and they took him off the stage and started to go back to the table, failing to see the thumbs up Greg sent in their table's direction over Cassandra's shoulder.

When they reached the table, Jake applauded as he laughed. "Bravo to all of you, really!"

The three took their respective seats and grinned at him.

Jake nodded and lifted the water bottle that Coleman had thrown at his head to cover him after he spotted the three of them coming back. "Well, here's to the friendships we've made in the past day,"

"You're not drunk, you freakin' liar! If you were, you'd be toasting beer right now!" Cassandra laughed.

Jake snapped his fingers while swinging one arm in front of him in mock defeat. "Damn it, you caught me. Fine, I'm not. I just felt like embarrassing myself. Sara, beer. NOW!"

Sara laughed and slid the can over to him.

Jake took it and put the contents into an empty glass on the table. "In all seriousness, then… To Max and Warrick, two of the best damn friends anybody can ask for,"

Everyone murmured in agreement and clinked their glasses together.

After a while, they got their orders, ate, finished up, then were talking for a while.

Cassandra sighed. "Guys, I gotta admit it. I had fun. This really did help,"

"Toldja it would!" Jake smirked.

"You did not!" Cassandra laughed.

"Well, I was gonna," Jake replied.

"You're an ass, you know that?" Cassandra asked.

Jake smirked. "Sure, I'm an ass, but I'm the left ass cheek. You're the right ass cheek on the same butt,"

There was a brief moment of silence before the entire group burst out laughing, including Jake. "Don't ask me where I got that one," he said, putting his hands up. "Even I dunno,"

Cassandra shook her head. "Hey Cath, a perfect example for Lindsey:" she pointed at Jake. "Her mind on drugs,"

"Woooooooooooo," Jake moved his upper body in a circle to emphasize her point, then paused as he realized he had lost his balance on his seat. "Oh shit!" he grabbed for Ronnie and Sara to get balance, but failed and ended up falling over.

The group laughed again, but then made sure he was alright as he got back up.

Jake shrugged. "Maybe I am drunk, who knows anymore… blame Coleman!" he called over his shoulder.

"Hey, I just tossed the thing to you!" Coleman replied.

"I know, it's just fun to blame you," Jake yelled.

Coleman rolled his eyes and went back to work.

Cassandra sighed. "Okay, I think it's time for you to go home. Nick, wanna help me?"

"Yeah," Nick managed to say through another fit of laughter because now it looked like Jake was bouncing up and down. "He's having enough fun for all of us. You guys enjoy. We'll see you tomorrow,"

"Sure," Catherine nodded. "Bye,"

"Bye!" Nick and Cassandra waved before grabbing Jake and leaving.

A few minutes passed and the remaining four people also headed for the van since Nick, Cassandra and Jake had taken a taxi home. Sara jumped slightly when she felt a vibration at her side. "Sorry, phone," she reported when Catherine, Greg and Ronnie looked at her. She looked at the screen, then started laughing, showing what she was laughing at to the other two.

**Text Message received at 10:07 P.M  
****From: Jake**

**The award for best drunk act goes to Jake Thompson of Las Vegas, Nevada. Jake has also won the Quietest Texting Award earlier tonight. **

**IF ANY OF U FELL 4 THAT, U HAVE NOW BEEN PWNED! LEARN FROM MASTER YODA. CYA LATER.  
****----  
**'**Hows the night darkest b4 the dawn when the sun has already started lighting the sky rite b4 dawn?' 'Because that light counts as dawn, idiot' **

"That's an impossibly long signature," Ronnie commented.

Sara chuckled. "That was what he and Cassie had to say about "The Dark Knight" after they saw it…leave it to Jake to be like that… at least he liked the movie,"

Catherine sighed, then shrugged. "Hey, it helped Cassie with Max and all of us with Warrick, so thank God for people like him, huh?"

"Yeah," the other three nodded.

Greg grinned. "Well, that was a good day, and fun as Hell. Now let's just try to survive tomorrow,"

"You got that right,"


	12. Cassabrass

**The next morning:**

Cassandra and Sara both looked up when they heard the doorbell ring. Earlier, Sara had come over to keep Cassandra company when Nick had headed out for the crime lab. They both glanced back at each other.

"Who could that be?" Sara asked. "There's no way they're off shift, unless… I'm not even gonna say it, in case…" she trailed off.

Cassandra nodded. "Stay here," she went to the front door. "Yeah? Who's there?" she called, making her way over to the window to try and see out.

"Brad Pitt… … … Geoffrey Rush plus a few pounds… and uh… … Tom Cruise and Luke Wilson's love child,"

Cassandra snorted when she recognized the first voice, then the two people's voices whom had just asked "What?". However, she made sure that it was just the three, then went back to the door and opened it. "A, Jake, you look nothing like Brad Pitt, B, Brass, nowhere near Rush,"

"Thank you," Jim growled.

"Oh, really?" Jake smirked, then started waving his arms as if dancing, just as Brad Pitt had done in "Burn After Reading".

Cassandra laughed, then pushed his arms down. "Sweetie, no. Just no," she glanced at Nick. "Though that was spot on for you,"

"Yeah, yeah. I used the Tom Cruise thing before in a case… but Luke Wilson's new…"

"And right," Cassandra nodded. "Come in. What're you guys doing here?"

"I'm your new protection detail!" Jake said proudly.

"Checkin' up on you guys," Nick added.

"Delivering good news," Jim replied.

Cassandra pointed at Jake. "Good news like his, or something different, 'cause if it's like his, I'm gonna tell you to skip telling me right now,"

Jim laughed while Jake gasped as if he had been offended, but he also made it obvious he was joking. "No. We cleared your house. You're free to go home, now. We got some new evidence that got us a new, promising suspect,"

Nick blinked. "Wait, what?"

"She's moving out," Jim smirked.

"No, not that part! You found a suspect? Why didn't you tell me?!"

Jim sighed. "Because I didn't know if you were gonna get all dark and go back to the crime lab to beat the crap outta the guy like you did with Little Cassie," he replied, putting his hand at waist level to indicate he meant the little girl and not the one in front of him.

Nick grunted a little bit, surprised he actually agreed.

"Who's our guy?" Cassandra asked, taking a sip from the glass of water she had.

"Some guy Josh Summers," Jim replied.

Cassandra spit out the water. "WHAT?!" .

Nick just raised his eyebrows and smirked as if he had expected to hear the name

Jim blinked. "You know him?"

"He's my boyfriend," Cassandra replied.

"You know, the one I mentioned," Nick added.

"Oh, right. 'Joshy-Boy'" Jim nodded. "Now I remember. I knew he sounded familiar… then that may excuse his fingerprints all over the place and that time he was over by the crime scene and got annoyed at us when we wouldn't let him by,"

Nick furrowed his eyebrows. That didn't seem like Josh. He looked at Cassandra and noticed she had an expression that made him figure she was thinking along the same lines.

"Oh shit…"

Everyone looked over at Jake, who had cursed.

"It's good that your house is cleared because I think this place is about to become a crime scene," he replied, all in one breath as he looked out the window.

"Huh?" Everyone else asked, but apparently, Jim was the only one to see what he was talking about, because a moment later the man had barked "EVERYBODY DOWN!"

Before the girls knew it, they were both facedown on the ground. Jake was on top of Cassandra and Nick was on top of Sara. Another moment later, the glass of some of the windows shattered with a few loud bangs. After the bangs stopped and there was a short time of silence, Jake rolled off Cassandra just as Nick had with Sara.

"All of you, stay down!" Jim ordered before running out the door.

"What did we miss?!" Cassandra hissed after a while. "And is he insane going out there alone?! Those sounded like gunshots!"

"I saw a flash down the block, then saw the outline of a guy, put two and two together, it was a muzzle flash. Brass saw 'em too, I guess. That's why we got you guys down. As far as his sanity… I dunno," suddenly, static came from his walkie-talkie at his belt, followed by Brass yelling that he was in pursuit of an armed suspect and wanted backup. Jake cursed again, then looked at the other three. "We're not going anywhere,"

"No complaints there, man," Nick shook his head.

"Figured," Jake nodded. "Damn it, he shouldn't be alone!"

"He'll be fine, Jake. It's Brass, after all," Nick assured him.

Jake groaned a bit.

Nick glanced at his phone when it rung. He saw it was Gil so he immediately picked up, and was just about to say they were alright when the yelling started.

"Thank God!"

"… Cath?" Nick blinked.

"Yeah. Nicky, what's going on? Are you alright?! I heard where Brass was and I realized he's a block down from where you live, and with what's going on with Sara and Cassie… are they alright, too?"

"We're fine, but that may change shortly," Nick replied, then heard sirens in the background. "… Maybe we'll be a hundred percent fine after all. Look, I gotta go,"

"No, Nick, wa-" Catherine began, but Nick had already hung up.

Within minutes, a few cop cars were around the area. Catherine had also shown up, making sure their teammates were all right while Jim and Jake were being questioned. Nick, Sara and Cassandra were all sitting on the back of an ambulance that had showed up, but since no real injuries were found, they had been cleared.

"What happened?" Catherine asked.

Nick shook his head. "I didn't see anything. Jake saw a flash, then the guy holding the gun, and then Brass did. Brass said hit the deck so I did. Took Sara with me,"

Sara and Cassandra nodded. "Same with us. We didn't see anything," Sara added.

Catherine smiled. "I'm sure it's gonna be fine. You're okay. That's what matters," she hugged all three of them at once.

Jim appeared from the side of the ambulance. "We lost the bastard," he complained. "… You guys alright? Sorry I left you,"

Nick shook his head. "It's fine. We're okay,"

Jim nodded. "Good… well, Summers is still in custody. He couldn't have done this,"

Nick put his arm around Cassandra. "Sorry, Cass, but…" he looked back at Jim. "That doesn't mean he couldn't have had someone do it for him,"

Cassandra shook her head and leaned into him. "If anything I'm starting to agree,"

Nick gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

Cassandra sighed. "I want this guy taken down,"

Jim nodded. "We all do, Cass. Don't worry. We're gonna find him,"

Cassandra smiled weakly at him.

Now Hodges and Greg showed up. "Hey, Cassabrass is together!"

"Toldja!" Jake called from somewhere a few feet away.

Cassandra snorted. "Cassabrass?"

Greg nodded. "From sassafras. Cassandra, Cassa. Brass, Brass. Together, Cassabrass,"

"How creative," Cassandra laughed.

Greg looked at Hodges. "Ha!"

Hodges' shoulders sunk and he pulled his wallet out from his wallet, handing Greg a twenty.

Cassandra raised an eyebrow.

Greg grinned. "We bet that if I got you to laugh and get out of your depressed state, Hodges would give me twenty bucks,"

Nick chuckled, then looked at Cassandra. "The thought that counts?" he suggested.

Cassandra laughed. "Him, I don't mind," she looked at Hodges "You, sleep with one eye open,"

"Why am I always the one who gets the blame for the negative thing?!" Hodges whined.

"Because it's always you who does it?" Cassandra replied.

Hodges paused. "… Good point,"

Nick frowned. "Wait, he just listened to you saying that?" he let his arm drop, only to bring both of them come back up so he was holding her shoulders. "Teach me!"

Cassandra laughed, then looked over at Jim when an officer approached him and whispered something in his ear. "What was that about?"

Jim smirked. "Well, he may've not been here to do this, but let's go see what our Joshy-Boy has to say about this,"


	13. After He Cheats

**A/N: Hey, what happened to my reviewers? Anyways, I don't own CSI:, what you don't recognize is mine. If you haven't checked out Cassandra and Jake's appearances by googling the names in chap one of just don't know them in general, I made a manipulation and put it up on deviantart. If you wanna check it out it's titled "Siblings By Popular Demand", under the same name as my penname. Looks like it's the last one on the bottom right… the one with the black and red background. Ha, a little bit of self promotion never hurt. Anyways, enjoy… Oh, and the end of this chap, DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA! Mwa haha… REVIEW!!!! … Please?**

That night, Cassandra groaned for the fifth time after hearing a rather loud thud, followed by cursing, for now the eighth time of the night. Jake was been right. Nick ended up having to stay the night at Cassandra's, but it was only an overnight since the only evidence of the event earlier was the bullet in the wall. It was the reason why Cassandra asked to be put on another case instead of forced to stay home, so she could find out what was going on with theirs as soon as possible, even if it meant beating the answer out of Ronnie, Greg or Nick. A few hours before, Nick had made himself comfortable on the couch to turn in, but it was now obvious that it wasn't working out. Why? Because the way he positioned himself on it didn't work well with the size of the couch, so every few minutes, he would fall off, making a rather loud thud, which was what Cassandra was groaning about. She had just managed to drift off for the first time the whole night, and got woken up by the thud yet again. "Nick! Get your ass in here!"

A few moments later, Nick came into the room. "I woke ya up?"

"No, Nicky. I stay up all night staring at the ceilings and wondering what I can use for earplugs every night,"

Nick sighed. "Sorry,"

Cassandra shook her head, then turned around and nodded at the bed. "I'll trade you. You take the bed, I'll take the couch so we can both sleep,"

"No, I can't do that! This is your place!" Nick insisted.

"Exactly. That means I deserve a good night's sleep, doesn't it?" she smiled.

Nick raised his eyebrows and nodded. "Touché,"

"Hm," Cassandra smirked again, then kissed him on the cheek before going into the living room.

"Hey, Cass?" Nick called after another couple of moments, going back into the hallway after her.

"Yeah?" Cassandra called

"How long can we hold Josh for tomorrow?"

"By the sound of it, just the day unless we find more on him," Cassandra replied, turning to face him.

"Damn,"

"Yeah… God, this is weird. Him, a suspect?"

Nick shrugged. "It's always the ones who don't seem capable,"

"I guess so," Cassandra nodded.

"Hey, we're gonna get whoever did this," Nick reassured her.

"I guess so…"

Nick nodded. "Well, I hope I won't keep you up any longer,"

"So do I," Cassandra laughed.

Nick grinned. " 'Night,"

"Night,"

They went their separate ways.

---

Later on, Nick and Cassandra literally ran into the crime lab. They were a few minutes late, and now that Jim had Josh as a possible lead to being the person who shot Warrick, he wanted everyone there on time, and even if they answered to Gil, they were both a bit scared of what Jim might do if they were late. The last thing they expected was to nearly literally run into Greg when they reached the meeting room. He too looked out of breath.

"Late?" he questioned them.

Nick and Cassandra nodded.

"Good. I'm not alone," Greg sighed, then opened the door, where Gil and Catherine were waiting for them. Gil simply raised an eyebrow, while Catherine bit her finger lightly, trying not to laugh.

"You're lucky, he's out right now," she told them.

The other three just mumbled a response, then collapsed in their respective chairs.

After a few seconds of silence, Cassandra looked around. "Where's my brother by popular demand?"

"Who?" Catherine laughed.

Cassandra waved her hand. "Jake. Where's Jake? … I take you wanna know why I called him that. It was his idea. People kept asking if we were siblings, so sooner or later Jake just gave up saying no and started saying yes, then when further conversation went on, he'd say we weren't really siblings, just siblings by popular demand,"

Catherine laughed again. "Cute. Anyway, he had to run back to his place. Said something happened at home. I think… Lynn? Lynn said something happened… break in or something. Told me to tell you that,"

Cassandra frowned. "Oh my God! Is she okay?"

Catherine shrugged. "I don't know. Didn't say. Just told me to tell you he was going to check on her,"

Cassandra cursed under her breath. "You have a case for me yet?" she looked at Gil.

"No," Gil shook his head. "You wanna call him?"

"Yeah," Cassandra nodded.

"Go right ahead," Gil offered.

"Thanks," Cassandra trotted out the door and dialed his number, cursing yet again when he didn't pick up. She settled for leaving a message. "Hey, Jake. It's Cass. Just calling to check on you. Hope you just have bad reception. Gimme a call when you get this, okay?" she hung up and went back into the room.

"Everything okay?" Nick asked.

"I wish I knew," Cassandra replied. "Had to leave a message,"

"I'm sure it is," Nick smiled.

Cassandra sighed. "You're way too optimistic, you know that?"

"I've been told," Nick smirked.

Cassandra barely got to sit down before Jim came in, nearly kicking down the door as he did so.

Everyone jumped and looked at him.

Jim turned to Cassandra. "How… do you live… with that… jackass?" he demanded through clenched teeth.

"We all wanna know that at this rate," Nick replied, which earned him an elbow to the ribs from Cassandra.

"Why do you wanna know?" she asked.

"Because he wouldn't shut up in the car, took several swings at my officers so either way he's staying in lockup for a while, oh, and let's not forget we caught him cheating on you!"

Now everyone's amused smile faded. They all stared at him, surprised at the last part.

"… What?" Cassandra was the first to ask.

Jim sighed. "Sorry, Cass, but he had his tongue down some other woman's throat. He didn't get the door so we ended up having to kick it down, and that was the first thing he saw… … Don't worry, he's not that much of a loss," he frowned, seeing Cassandra was now staring at the wall opposite her. "Again, sorry, but-"

"No. Don't apologize. I shoulda seen this coming," Cassandra replied. "Don't know why I didn't,"

Nick shrugged. "How could you? I mean, your relationship was already screwed up enough,"

Feeling like he was out of the red zone, Jim spoke up again. "She actually did a bit of fighting with my officers, too. You'll see her soon. She's up for assault on an officer… and better yet, we found a gun at his place… a gun that matches the bullets we got out of Max and Warrick,"

Cassandra sunk lower in her chair. "Great," she said sarcastically.

Nick went to put his hand on her shoulder, but she put her hands up. "Don't… just please… don't,"

"Sure," Nick nodded weakly, then looked at Gil, who nodded towards the door. He nodded and everyone else in the room left, leaving her alone.

--

A couple of hours passed, but it seemed like days. Jim had brought Josh into one of the interrogation rooms and practically threw him down into the chair and told him not to move, then went to retrieve the blonde from another section of the building to bring her into another room. At this point, Cassandra came out of hiding and leaned against the wall, barely wanting to see the woman, but she felt she had to. After a few seconds of waiting, Nick joined her, handing her a cup of coffee. "You okay?"

"Better than I was, thanks," she took the cup and sighed. Jim would be in the hallway in a matter of seconds. She could feel it. Sure enough, she was right. About fifteen seconds later, Jim came back around the corner, almost dragging a blonde behind him. Every so often the blonde would try and pull against him, which only made Jim's grip tighten and pull harder.

Now Cassandra finally got a good look at the blonde, and she could've vomited right then and there. The blonde was skinny, possibly anorexic, had short blonde hair, long legs, and she was wearing a tight tube top and a short skirt that barely even covered what she was made of. "You have GOT to be shitting me…" Cassandra muttered. "Is that…?" she looked at Nick, who for some reason, looked pale.

He sighed. "That's our girl. Heather Denmark. The blonde Brass mentioned," He swallowed. "Damn girl, you had some competition! No wonder Joshy-Boy cheated on you!"

Cassandra sent him a dirty look, but then frowned, seeing that Heather had smirked at her nastily before Brass led her into the interrogation room. She turned back around, she had started to come to terms with Josh cheating on her, and after seeing Heather, she understood why. She shook her head, then looked up, seeing Greg and Jake, who had returned a few minutes earlier and had explained someone tried to break into his house, coming her way, with smiles on their faces. Noticing that Greg was holding something behind his back, she approached them, suspicious. "What're you two up to?"

"Well, he told me what happened…" Jake began.

"And we thought of something that would cheer you up," Greg finished, taking out what was behind his back. It was a baseball bat. Jake also took out his car keys and help them up.

Cassandra took both items. "I don't think bashing him over the head will really help me, even if it would make me feel better, guys,"

Greg grinned. "Nu-uh," he walked a couple of steps towards her so he was in arms reach, then turned over the bat. Cassandra laughed, seeing he had written Louisville Slugger on it in Sharpie marker. The pieces were coming together.

Greg nodded, seeing she was catching on. "Go dig those keys into the side of his pretty little souped up four wheel drive, carve your name into his leather seats, take this to both headlights, and slash a hole into all four of his tires, sister,"

Jake grinned and nodded proudly. "If you don't, I will,"

Cassandra laughed. "I love you guys so much," she put down the bat and keys, then hugged him.

"I'll help ya, Jake," Nick pointed upwards.

"Alright!" Jake cheered. "Now, you guys do whatever you need to do. Watch the interrogation, whatever,"

"Will do," Nick and Cassandra went over to the window to see how Jim was coming along with Heather as Jake walked away. However, Nick wished that they hadn't gone over to the window at that moment, mostly because of Heather's reply to whatever Jim's question was.

Inside, Heather snorted. "Why don't you ask the hot guy I saw next to Josh's so-called-girlfriend? He saw Josh and I together before, and apparently, he didn't say anything to her,"

Cassandra paused. "What does she mean?" she wondered aloud.

"Nothin'. Buying time" Nick replied, too quick for her liking.

Heather continued. "The tall, hot, brunette guy. Southern accent. He was staring at Josh and I in disbelief when we were at that club. She was, too, but he saw us before she did and dragged her off. Josh said his name was Stomer… no… Stromer! That was his name! Nick Stromer!"

Cassandra froze and turned to Nick, letting the adjectives sink in, realizing she meant him, then remembered that Nick had told Josh his last name was Stromer. Now Heather was saying he had seen them together before? "Nick, tell me she's lying. Please tell me you didn't see them…"

Nick only glanced at her before he looked back down, refusing to meet her eyes.

"No…" Cassandra breathed. "You knew and didn't tell me?!"

Nick nodded slowly.

"You knew," Cassandra repeated, barely believing it.

Nick turned to her but still didn't meet her eyes. "Cass, I wanted to tell you, but I already told you I thought he was a dirt bag. I saw them, I was gonna tell you, but with all your stress and worry about Max and Warrick, I…" he trailed off, seeing her clench her jaw. "Cass…" he reached for her arm.

Cassandra pulled away. "Don't you dare touch me. You should've told me, even with my situation. I thought you were my friend!"

"I am, Cass! I…held off on telling you so you wouldn't end up getting hurt…"

"Like I am now?!" Cassandra demanded. "Funny thing is, Nick, that my boyfriend's cheating on me, and I'm more upset that you didn't tell me than the fact that you knew he was!" she scoffed. "Nick, I admire you as a person, I really do, but you can be so stupid sometimes! Grissom was right. I do need a few more days off, starting NOW," she stalked off.

"Cassie!" Nick yelled after her. He looked to the side. "Greg…" he mumbled.

Greg nodded. "You go get your girl. I'll find Grissom and bring him back to monitor,"

Nick nodded and ran after Cassandra.

A few seconds later, he made it out of the lab and spotted her a few feet away and jumped the last couple of steps to catch up to her. He trotted the last few feet and grabbed her arm so she had to turn around and face him to get her balance back. "Cassie, I did it to look out for you," Nick pointed out gently.

Cassandra sighed and tried to fight against him. "Why me, then?! Why is keeping your mouth shut about something as important as this looking out for me? If you were looking out for me, you would've told me so I wouldn't be hurting like I am now. Oh! Speaking of, why are my feelings so important, huh?! Why do you care?!" she could've fallen over in surprise at what happened next, not expecting what he did to be an answer at all. Nick took two steps forward, grabbed the back of her neck and kissed her. For some reason that she didn't even know, after a moment, she briefly kissed back, then came to her senses and pulled back.

Nick let her.

Cassandra sighed. "Nick… I just… I just can't do this right now," she walked away without another word, and Nick watched her go, not knowing what else to do.

Jake came out of the building, watching her. "What the Hell did you say or do to her?!" he demanded, glaring at Nick after Cassandra had made it far enough that both of them could barely make her out in the dark.

"I… I dunno. I told her that I didn't tell her about Heather because I was looking out for her, she got mad and asked why I cared… and I kissed her. Happy? I kissed her!"

Jake was silent for a few moments, then started walking towards his motorcycle a few feet away. He opened the storage area on the motorcycle and pulled out a helmet. He looked at Nick and threw it at him. "Put that on,"

Nick caught it, then looked it over. "Why?"

"Because…" Jake put his own helmet on. "You are _finding Cassie_, and you two are gonna talk things over. I'm your ride, so get on," he swung his leg over the motorcycle and looked back at Nick, seeing that the Texan hadn't moved. "Either I help you, or beat the shit outta you for making her upset. You choose," he smirked, seeing that his threat made Nick get the helmet on and walk over to the bike at top speed. Nick got on behind Jake. Jake looked back at him. "Hold on to me because this thing gets really fast, but again, I have a wife, so absolutely NO gay jokes, or I won't hesitate to shove you off this thing while it's moving, got it?"

Nick nodded. "Got it,"


	14. How to Save a Life

**A/N: Cheers for the review, 4ever Optimistic. I don't own CSI, blah blah blah, I own what you don't recognize, moving on, enjoy.**

Since they weren't successful in finding Cassandra anywhere, the motorcycle ride had been almost annoyingly quiet the entire time. Both Jake and Nick seemed to be in their own worlds. They finally starting talking when they were a couple of blocks away from the house. "You think she got this far this fast?!" Nick called over the engine.

"No, but where else would she be? Not at Lynn's, not around here, hospital visiting hours are over, and we woulda seen her if she doubled back to the lab, don't ya think? Your place and hers are the only places left!"

"Hm!" Nick nodded.

Jake paused, then replied. "We're gonna find her, Stokes. She's fine,"

"How do you know?!" Nick demanded, rather shortly.

"Easy, man! I'm trying to help you out! Not bring you down! I know because I know Cassie. She's strong. Always has been, always will be,"

Nick just grunted again as they turned the corner of his block.

"… Oh shit…"

Nick wasn't quite sure if he had heard it, but he could've sworn that the swear had come from Jake, and his suspicions were confirmed when Jake slammed on the brakes rather quickly.

Jake flung his helmet off. "Shit. Shit, shit, SHIT!" he motioned for Nick to get off the motorcycle, then popped open the storage area and pulled out his back up gun from it.

Nick took his own helmet off now. "Whoa, man, what're you doing?"

Jake looked back at him. "Is your house on the right or left when we're going this way?"

"Right, why?" Nick glanced back at his house, but then saw why Jake was on edge. Next door, Cassandra's door had been kicked off its hinges, and several of the windows. "Shit…" he echoed Jake.

"Exactly," Jake tossed the backup to Nick, drawing the one at his hip. "Stay behind me,"

"Look, man, I'm good, you gave me a gun-"

"Who's the cop here?!"

Nick opened his mouth.

Jake shook his head. "Don't answer that! Just stay behind me!"

Nick clenched his jaw, then nodded.

Jake nodded as well, then moved across the street, then they made their way just outside Cassandra's doorway. "Cass! Sar! You here?!" he called. He looked at Nick when there was no response. He stepped inside, moving into the living room. "Guys…?" he looked around, going into the kitchen, squatting down to check under everything before moving onto the other rooms of the first floor. "Damn it, can't find 'em,"

Nick swallowed hard. This wasn't looking good. "Who the Hell coulda done this?"

"Don't know, don't care. I just pray they're upstairs somewhere and when I get into one of the bedrooms one of them are gonna swing a pan or something at my head to knock me out 'cause they think I'm whoever did this,"

Nick nodded. "Let's go,"

Jake led the way up the stairs and brought his gun up yet again. "Cass! Sar!" he called, going into the two bedrooms first, followed closely by Nick, then went into the other bedroom. Still no luck. "Could they be over at your place?" Jake asked, heading for the stairs again, then jumped slightly when Nick flung one arm around his shoulders and yanked him backwards. "What the Hell, Stokes?!"

"We got blood," Nick replied, pointing to one of the doorframes.

Jake swallowed hard, then took out his walkie talkie. "Brass? It's Thompson. You there?"

A couple of moments later, Brass replied. "It's about time I hear from you! You and Nick just disappeared!"

"Yeah, well, we're both here at Cassie's,"

"And Cassie! She disappeared too! She with you?"

Jake and Nick exchanged looks. "Uh, no, Boss… that's why we're calling… her house was broken into, and we got blood here,"

"… Just stay there, then. I'll get Grissom,"

"Yes sir,"

---

Cassandra groaned as she came to consciousness slowly. When she opened her eyes, she closed them again since her vision was blurred and her world was spinning. She struggled, trying to remember just why it was like that, then remembered the last few minutess she had been conscious.

Her whole situation, then the aftermath with Nick nearly made her have a breakdown in the cab that had taken her the rest of the way home. She had been crying, but when Sara saw she was and asked why, she had just brushed it off and told her that sand had blown up into the wind and gotten into her eyes. She didn't expect Sara to believe it. She didn't expect _anyone_ to believe it, but she didn't want to talk about it. She had just headed upstairs to get a book to read and get her mind off things when someone had grabbed her from behind and rammed her against he door, and when that only knocked the wind out of her momentarily, the person who had grabbed her put a cloth over her mouth, and that was all she remembered up to.

_I must've been chloroformed… why the Hell are they after me? Josh and his girlfriend were our best bets, so who the hell's doing this?_

Going over the memory again, she was suddenly wide awake.

_Sara. If she was knocked out, then where was Sara?_

She lifted her head and waited for her vision to go get slightly better, enough to try and make out any other person in the room, but found she was alone. "Sar? Sara?!" she called. Still nothing. "Shit…" she went to push herself upright, but failed miserably, finding that when she did, she rolled right back down. She glanced down, seeing that her hands were bound by some plastic contraption. "God damn it,"

She thought for a minute, then got her thoughts together again and used her arms to level herself, still in a crouching position before getting to her feet. She was surprised to find that they weren't bound.

_How does that add up? Hands but no feet or gag? Hm… just that little window, one door… One door._

She turned her attention to it and studied it briefly before kicking the bottom. The only thing that she got established was that it was thick, heavy and metal, since her leg pounded with pain right when it hit it. She cursed again, then attempted to shoulder it. Again, failed.

_Okay, Cass. Calm down. Going crazy about this isn't gonna help… what would Nick do in this situation? No, I'm not singing any country songs to calm my nerves… Jake? No, I'm not MacGyver like he is. There's absolutely nothing in here I can use to blast my way out of here. Brass? No, I don't have a gun. Greg? No, just tried it. Cath? Nobody's gonna here me yelling through that door… Grissom… ah, Grissom._

She turned towards the window and approached it, jumping up repeatedly to try and see outside. It was nothing but soil halfway up, then blue sky. No landmarks or anything. Come on, show me something. She looked down at the dirt, trying to see any insects. Still nothing. "Where the Hell am I?"

--

On the other side of the building that Cassandra was in, Sara was waking up to find herself in a very similar situation. However, being taken and dragged away before made for a quicker reaction time. She was on her feet within a short few seconds, then her mind started going. She had heard a crash, then a muffled scream that could only have come from Cassandra. She remembered that her sister had gotten home from taking a taxi and Sara saw that she was crying, but when she asked about it, she didn't say anything. Of course she didn't believe her and if she knew her sister, Cassandra knew that she wouldn't, but she also knew Cassandra always dealt with her demons well when she was alone. It wasn't a healthy habit, but it worked, so Sara left it at that. She too started examining her surroundings, trying to estimate various measurements of the room and narrow them down to certain places of Las Vegas, but it didn't work out too well. She kicked at the door, but like her sister, barely made any progress. She wanted to know where Cassandra was. Wanted to know if she was all right. If she was _alive_. She reached for her cell phone, hoping whoever had put her in her room hadn't taken it, but they had.

_Damn it. What is there to do? What haven't I tried?_

She literally ran at the door, then threw all of her weight against it, but ended up falling right back down to the ground. She bounced right back up and glared at the door. She was slowly realizing that her only hope was if someone would realize that she was missing and call for help. Her old team would know what to do. They would find her.

-----------------------

It had been three hours since Brass had literally dragged Jake and Nick back into the crime lab. The morning sun had been up for the passed hour, which didn't help anything. Just made it seem like even more time passing. Jake and Nick had been going back and forth from lab to lab to see what results were coming up, since that was all they could do. Well, at least all Nick could so since Jake had been called to do various other jobs like chasing after a robbery suspect, but Jake had turned it down, more worried about the outcome of his friends. He felt like he was making a hole in the floor from pacing so much. Nick, however, hadn't moved from the DNA lab for a while. They had found a set of Sara's fingerprints at an odd angle by the entryway, but still nothing on Cassandra. "Wendy, who's blood was that at Cassandra's?" Nick asked for what seemed like the hundredth time to both of them.

Wendy sighed. "Nick, I'm working on it. You'll know as soon as I do, I promise… just… stop pacing, okay?"

Nick stopped, then pulled up a chair and sat down. "Sorry,"

Wendy sighed. "Hey, you're worried about the girl you like. I'd be pacing, too,"

Nick laughed weakly. "It's that obvious, huh?"

Wendy raised her eyebrows and nodded. "Kinda," she smiled more warmly when he looked down. She put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly. "We're gonna find her, Nick. We're gonna find both of them,"

Nick nodded. "I know, I know, but… damn it, I feel like it's my fault. If I hadn't… ugh… she wouldn't have been out of it and looked like easy prey for whoever did this…" he looked back up again when one of the machines beeped.

Wendy went over to it, read the results, than swallowed hard. "…That blood on the door was Cassie's… she's hurt, wherever she is,"

Nick felt his heart sink. "Look, I know he'll wanna know, but don't tell Jake that it's hers, 'kay? He'll throw a fit and get all crazy. He'll be worse than me, waiting for you to get some DNA that could be our kidnappers, then he'll find some crazy way to hunt down the guy, then God knows what…"

"Yeah, one thing: Who's Jake?" Wendy asked.

"I am,"

Nick winced, then turned around, not expecting to see Jake halfway inside the doorway, looking pale. He had obviously heard that the blood was Cassandra's.

"Anything else other than prints and the blood?" Jake asked.

Wendy shook her head.

"Damn it!" Jake kicked at the door, then looked at Nick. "I want my sisters back, Nick. I've lost Max for God knows how long. I'm not losing them,"

"None of us are, man," Nick offered.

Jake ran his hands through his hair. "I just… this is your field. I don't know what I can do,"

Nick nodded. "You can help us do what we did when it was me in this situation and Sara's first time like this,"

"Which is?" Jake asked.

"Easy. Help us get whoever did this,"

"That sounds like a plan,"

**REVIEW!!!!!! ... Please?**


	15. They're Playing With Us

**A/N: Chap booted up to an M rating for one choice word used. Anyways, cheers for the reviews. I don't own CSI, so on and so forth, enjoy. Oh, and the thing repeated involving Greg shortly in the chap… it's not a typo. It's used twice to show the Sidle's similar mind set. REVIEW!!!!!!!**

Jake was just in the middle of heading for Catherine when he saw her turn the corner when he let out a yelp, since he was being yanked backwards. "What the HELL?!" he demanded, turning around, then frowned, seeing it was Jim who had dragged him back. "Boss?"

Jim pointed in the interrogation room holding Heather. "Get in there. Now. I'm gonna see what Summers has to say about this,"

"But I'm not a-"

"I don't care that you're not a detective. Your friend Steve and I need a break, or I'm liable to kill her myself,"

Jake sighed. "Look, Captain, I would, but I really want to-"

"It'll get your mind off of Cassandra. We'll find you if anything goes down… do you want Nick in there with you?"

"You think that's a good idea since she knows him?"

"Hey, Cassie's not dead. The most Blonde Bimbo can do to either of you is talk your ear off," Jim assured him.

"I'm in,"

The men looked beside them, seeing that Nick had joined them. The comment had obviously come from him.

"You sure?" Jake asked.

Nick nodded. "We free to question her?"

Jim nodded. "Yes, but… just watch what you say,"

"Why would I-" Nick began.

Jim laughed. "Nick, am I blind or slow?"

"…No,"

"Exactly. You care about her, and don't gimme that "Just friends" B.S. I saw you smooch her before. I just kept my mouth shut… Just… don't let her get to you… Heather, that is,"

Nick sighed. "Fine,"

Jake nodded. "Just meet me in there. I uh… did something, I wanna make sure that it goes smoothly,"

"O… kay?" Nick blinked. "I'll wait for you, then," he leaned on the wall, and about five minutes later, Josh was being taken to another room, and along the way, he and the officers holding him passed a window by the parking lot.

Nick raised an eyebrow when Jake simply grinned, watching them. "What'd you…?"

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY CAR?!"

Nick's jaw dropped, hearing Josh's yell. He looked at Jake. "You didn't…"

Jake shrugged. "Toldja I'd do it… but where was that help you were gonna give me?" he winked before going into the interrogation room and leaning against the wall inside.

Nick followed him inside, sitting across from Heather, who started bouncing up and down.

"That's him! You're that guy Stromer!" she pointed at Nick.

Nick shook his head. "Yeah, I am, Miss. Denmark. One thing; It's Stokes, not Stromer. I didn't quite level with Josh when we first met,"

"Doesn't surprise me. You don't look like a Stromer," Heather shrugged.

Nick snorted. "Look, Miss. Denmark… shortly after you were brought here, Cassandra's house was broken into. She and her sister are missing now, and we found Cassie's blood on one of the corners of the rooms. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

Heather snorted. "I've been here. Knowing that, would I?"

"I dunno, would you?" Nick demanded.

Heather shrugged.

Nick frowned, then looked at Jake when the man tapped his shoulder.

Jake pointed out the window, showing that Gil was outside, talking to Greg.

Nick could tell he was getting annoyed because he was using that half yell, half normal speaking voice that Nick had come to call his trademark… next to the love of bugs, that was. "Jake, stay and keep an eye on her,"

"Sure," Jake slid into Nick's chair when the Texan got up.

Heather looked at Jake and giggled. "So you're Jake, huh? You're kinda cute,"

Nick, who was in the doorway, tried not to laugh and turned back to Jake, who looked back at him like he had stabbed him in the foot. He shrugged apologetically and went over to Gil.

"Nick! Where's Sara?" Gil demanded.

Nick shook his head. "We don't know yet, Griss! We just got the blood, we're working on how far they could be from Cassie's place on foot or in car,"

"And you haven't checked the GPS on her phone with Archie?!" Gil demanded.

Nick blinked. "I don't think she…"

"Does yours have it?!"

"Yeah…"

"You have the same phone, so she does, too. If they're together, that could be Sara and Cassie's location. Get it to Archie! I can't believe I go to see about another case, and I come back to this!"

Nick frowned, a bit upset at Gil for getting so mad at him right away, but at the same time, he understood why. He also felt rather dumb that he didn't think of it before. Right," he took his phone out and went to Cassandra's number before going towards the A.V lab.

--

Cassandra instantly snapped to attention when she heard the door to her 'cell' open. She had been staring at the wall, trying to come up with ideas of how to get out of there. Her eyes centered on the chunky, white-haired man that came into the room, closing the door firmly behind him.

He looked at her and sneered. "Hi there. How you doin'?"

Cassandra winced. He had a southern accent, but unlike Jake and Nick's, it just seemed to insult his intelligence instead of making her feel good. "Where's my sister?"

The man laughed. "Where'd the fun be if I told you that?" he asked. "I'm Ed, by the way,"

"Where's… Sara?" she growled.

"You know, usually when someone tells you their name, you say nice to meet ya or say your own name,"

"Well, being that you just unlocked this door, you must be with the person who put me here, so clearly, you know mine, and my sister's… so where's Sara?" she repeated.

Ed advanced on her. "You're not being very nice,"

Cassandra scoffed. "I got drugged, I'm locked in a cell now, I don't know where my sister is, and you expect me to be nice to you? Dream on, you son of a bitch," she winced, but bit down hard on her lip to contain the yelp that came from her when his hand flew hard across her face.

"Now you gonna tell me?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I am," Cassandra nodded, straightening up. "Fuck you, that's my name," this time, she managed to duck the punch that came at her.

Ed scoffed, then pointed at her. "You'll be sorry for that,"

"Sure," Cassandra nodded.

Ed growled, then left.

Cassandra waited a few seconds, making sure he was gone before hissing in pain and touching her cheek. _Brilliant, Cass. Piss of the muscle. IDIOT!_ She scolded herself. "…Sara, where are you?"

--

Just as before, Sara had just experienced Ed, but he had just complained about Cassandra without giving much else away. She complied and told him her name, though. However, she wasn't focused on him after a while. She spotted a younger man outside the door to her own cell. He had a small frame, tousled brown hair, and was leaning on the wall. Just with that first observation, the young man reminded her of Greg, but back a few years. The moment they made eye contact, the young man looked away. Even his eyes had the same amount of life that Greg's had. It was a tad eerie, to say the least, but she didn't spot any possible family resemblance. Her attention was torn away from the man when Ed cleared his throat.

"Well, since you've been a good girl, I ain't gonna do nothing to you… yet," he too left, but Sara caught him telling a "Bill" to follow him, and sure enough, the young man followed him, but it was almost like he didn't want to go. Like it was forced. _What's going on? _

---

"Come on, Arch! Give us something to work with," Nick patted the A.V lab tech's shoulder.

"And fast," Gil added. He and Jake had followed Nick into the lab, which did not help Archie's nerves.

"Working on it… no offense, but it would be a bit easier without you two breathing down my neck," Archie replied, mumbling the last bit, which only earned him two dirty looks. "Okay, look! It's tracking! It's gonna take a few more seconds,"

Gil and Nick looked at each other and sighed, then looked back up hopefully when a series of beeps came from the computer.

"We got a location!" Archie pointed out. He read the location out loud. "Warehouse on East 34th… … … Summers Incorporated?" he looked at the three other men, then frowned, seeing they were now glaring at the screen. "You know the name?"

"I'll get the car," Gil said without replying to Archie.

"I'll get the rest of the team," Nick added.

"You guys do that. I'm gonna go beat the crap out of Joshy-Boy until he tells me about the place and where they're in it exactly," Jake replied, leaving without waiting for a response.

Archie just watched them leave, then blinked. "… I take that as a 'yes'…"

Gil finally seemed to register what the younger man said a few moments later, but he was still focused on the location. "Should we stop him?"

Nick shook his head. "Unfortunately, 'beat up' for Jake is just shove him around a bit and scream in the guy's face… we got your fiancée and Cassie to find… we focus on that more, first… I'll spread the word," he ran off, leaving Gil to his self-assigned task.

--

"Agh…" Somehow, Cassandra's head was still spinning from getting hit across the face. She tried to shake it off, but failed miserably. Another thing that didn't help her was that the room was barely lit, the fluorescent light on the ceiling flickering, threatening to die at any moment. The light situation was made worse when the door swung open, and bright light from the outside came in. She hissed then looked away.

The dry, emotionless laughter of Ed reached her ears. "Serves ya right. Here. 'Case you were hungry,"

Cassandra looked down when he tossed something beside her. It was an awful-looking sandwich. She looked back up at him. She tried to keep her mouth shut, but failed miserably. "You expect me to trust that? What's in it? Rat poison? Have me dead when my friends find my sister and I, wherever she is?"

Ed laughed. "Have it your way," he replied, then exited, but not before he mumbled something.

Cassandra raised an eyebrow when a young man came in. At first glance, she thought it was Greg, but when she got a better look, she realized it wasn't.

Ed slammed the door behind him, leaving the man inside.

The young man's frown turned into a neutral expression when he looked up at her. "Here," he fished into his bag and pulled out yet another sandwich.

Cassandra couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Still not gonna have anything. I don't see why you guys are even trying. I'm a CSI for God's sake. You didn't even predict I would know what you're trying to do? That I'd just give in to hunger?" she felt safer challenging him, because he was a bit smaller and obviously younger than her.

"Well, there's… better stuff in that one," the young man replied.

Cassandra raised an eyebrow.

The man just shrugged before a sudden "BILL!" came from his ear.

Cassandra's raised eyebrow went slightly higher.

The young man, apparently, Bill, just sighed, lifted up a large wrench towards the fluorescent light and gave it a good tap. The light went back to normal. He looked back at her. "It really is better… though Ed doesn't know it yet," he replied before leaving as well.

Cassandra winced, hearing the door lock, then looked back at the other sandwich. Again, she didn't want to give in, but curiosity overtook her and flipped it open, then just gaped. Her cell phone and a folded piece of paper were in a small plastic bag. "What the hell?" _Who gives their hostage their cell phone, even if it doesn't have service?_ She opened the bag and flipped open her cell phone and was even more confused when she saw that it did have service. "What the…?" she took out the note.

DON'T make any calls. Ed and the others will know. I gave you the phone when I saw it had GPS. It'll help your friends. Your sister is in a room much like your own on the opposite side of this hallway. She's fine.

Cassandra shook her head, not making any sense of the situation. It was like something out of "Lost". So now Bill or whatever his name was was helping her, even if he was working with the others? She realized it was more like "Jurassic Park" when one line came to mind. "They're playing with us…"


	16. Splitting Up

**A/N: Don't own CSI, blah blah, enjoy and review!!!**

---

_By now you know that  
I'd come for you  
No one but you, yes I'd come for you  
But only if you told me to  
And I'd fight for you  
I'd lie, it's true  
Give my life for you  
You know I'd always come for you_

**_-"I'd Come For You": Nickelback _**

_**-----**_

Jim looked at the small gathered crowd. "Right. Team A, Thompson, Catherine and five other officers. Team B, Nick, Warrick, and five others. C, Gil and Greg, five others," he started pointing at each person as he said their name. "We have a location and we don't know how long we're gonna have it, so we gotta move,"

"Why can't it be Nick, Grissom and I, boss? I think we'd have the most determination to find them," Jake offered.

"Exactly. That's why I'm splitting you guys up. So you won't team up on whoever did this to them and kill them,"

Jake paused, then nodded, along with Nick. He had a point.

Archie came into the room. "Signal just stopped, then came back in a different spot, guys. It's moving away,"

Jim sighed. "I'll take some of my guys and follow that. Could be a trick and they're still over there,"

"Did I mention how much I hate doing this?" Gil mumbled.

"You're not alone. Let's do this," Nick motioned at Warrick, then nodded at Jake when the cop picked five officers out of the gathered group to go into their respective smaller groups.

--

Nobody had come into Cassandra's cell in the past while, and it was starting to annoy. Ed had come in with Bill, and Ed had just kept talking, and Bill just sat there in silence. He didn't even look at her whatsoever. It was just too confusing. That was, until Bill walked into the cell and looked right at her.

"It's about time. What happen? I finally get to Ed?" she asked.

He just pulled over the chair that was now in the corner and put it against the wall before sitting down and staring at the opposite wall.

Cassandra clenched her jaw. "Why are you helping me?"

No response.

"You're different than him. I can tell,"

Nothing.

"Better than him…"

Again, nothing.

"You can talk, can't you?"

Still nothing.

She sighed. "If you don't talk, I can't help you for helping me,"

She offered, but was met with silence yet again. "You're gonna go away as long as Ed when my guys come here and find you. Kidnapping, assault… quite a bit of time," she told him. "A lot of time to be away from the world, your family,"

"No!" Bill finally broke. "I can't… I have a family. Ed… Ed found me in a store one night. He saw me someplace, thought I would be a good follower… I was in one of the aisles, next thing I know he has a gun to my back… said if I didn't help him… he'd kill my wife an unborn baby," he blurted, finally looking at her, tears forming in his eyes.

Cassandra gaped at him briefly. She tried not to smile, realizing that she was turning into Nick. She was too trusting. For some reason, she believed him, hands down. "Fine. I promise if you can get my sister and I outta here, we'll return you to your family, safe and sound,"

"She said… she said if I helped you… she's get Ed to take my wife here… kill her in front of me, then kill me," Bill shook his head. "I shouldn't have told you this,"

Cassandra didn't catch the "she" part. "Yes you should've. Do you still have my phone?"

Bill nodded, running his hands through his hair.

"Call the crime lab, ask for Jim Brass,"

Bill paused. "No, I have a better idea," he reached into his back pocket.

Cassandra jumped a bit, seeing he had pulled out a gun. "What the-"

"Calm down!" Bill put his hands up. "I'm telling you the truth, I swear," he turned the gun around so he was holding the barrel so the handle was out to her. "Take it,"

"You want me to shoot you?" Cassandra raised an eyebrow.

"No! Hit me in the back of the head with it. Knock me out with it," Bill replied, turning briefly to make sure the door was open. "Keys to the cell doors are in my left pocket,"

Cassandra was still struggling with the idea of knocking him out. "What?"

"Look. The only way they keep this up is if you knock me out so it looks like you got the better of me, right?"

"Er… no," Cassandra shook her head. "Oh well, just hit me!"

Cassandra shifted.

"If I was against you, would I be telling you to do this?" Bill demanded.

"No," she sighed. "What's your name… full name?"

"William "Bill" Richmond," he replied.

Cassandra groaned. "I promise your wife's gonna be okay…"

Bill nodded, then turned.

Cassandra shook her head. "Sorry," she mumbled before doing as she was told and hitting him over the head with it. She watched him go down like a ton of bricks. "That was strange," she went into his left pocket and sure enough, there was a set of keys. "Really confused now," she took his gun as well and headed out the door, then went left when she found she was at the edge of the hallway. "Come on, please be here," she mumbled when she reached the furthest door and put one of the keys inside, sighing when it was the right one. She opened the door and stepped inside, but right when she did so, she saw something flying towards her head, so she dove at the floor. "HOLY SHIT!"

"…Cassie?!"

Cassandra looked up. "Sara?"

Sara yelped. Pulling her to her feet, then hugged her tightly. "I am so sorry. I thought you were Ed. How'd you…?"

"That guy with him, Bill. He let me knock him out and told me where the keys were and everything… said he's being forced to work for whoever did this,"

"Are you su-"

"You had to be there. I saw it in his eyes… he was being honest. I trust him. Now come on, before we get caught," she led the way out of the room and down the hall.

"And you know where we're going… how?" Sara asked.

"Don't know, just making it up as I go along with the knowledge of other factories I've been in on the job," Cassandra replied, then froze, hearing echoing footsteps. "Though I never really had to wonder if other footsteps were from the good guys or bad guys… run!"

The sisters tore down the hallway, and to their surprised, the footsteps that they ruled out were not theirs didn't speed up after them, but another set started, this time from the hallway in front of the. They both cursed, then looked at each other when they came to an area where two new halls joined the other that they were in, and realized they were going to have to split up. It would give them an advantage.

"Be careful, and once you're safe, look for me," Sara replied, going towards the left.

"You too," Cassandra nodded, running down the right.

--

Jake watched as one of the other cops gave him and Catherine an all clear sign to go inside the Summers building. He nodded and opened the door, then Catherine went in, followed by the three cops behind her, then Jake, then the other two cops. "LVPD!" he called, stepping carefully down the hallway, listening for any movement at all. The group had gone in the back while the few other groups had gone in the front and side of the building, and he would settle for even seeing them. "Cassie?! Sara?!" he called. Of course, not the wisest idea, but he was downright annoyed and nothing could stop him at this point.

"Don't run off on me now," Catherine mumbled from his right.

He just glanced at her before pointing at the two hallways ahead. "Enie meany miny mo,"

He was pointing at the left hallway. "Alright, let's go,"

--

Nick was ready to punch a hole in the wall beside him. He was already fed up with the situation, but he was also annoyed about the fact that Hodges had wanted to join the rescue effort, and of course, he had been stuck with Nick and Warrick, and now, the older man wouldn't shut up.

"Who would even use this place as some hideout, anyway? It's gloomy outside, then all bright in here?" Hodges asked, looking around.

"Hodges, not now," Nick replied.

"But-"

"Hodges!" Nick whirled on him. "I'm ten seconds away from sockin' ya in the jaw, so shut… up. Work with us and keep quiet or go back and meet us outside, 'cause if you've forgotten, Sara and Cassie are somewhere in here, and for all we know, they're dead!" he hissed. "Our best bet is working together, and that ain't gonna happen unless you keep your mouth shut,"

Warrick took Nick's shoulder. "Nicky, come on,"

Nick sighed, then kept walking, finding a hallway and raising his gun. "LVPD!" he called, going down it further, then groaned, seeing that it branched off. "Split up,"

"What?" everyone else demanded.

"Warrick, Tom, Gavin, down that way," Nick pointed to the left. "Hodges, Lou, with me,"

Everyone looked around uncertainly.

Nick sighed. "Guys, come on. This place is huge! We can cover more ground,"

"What if we need help?" Warrick asked.

"You find us or one of the other groups," Nick replied. "We'll be fine,"

Warrick shook his head. "You're lucky I know most of the time your stupid ideas actually work out. Be careful," he patted Nick's shoulder.

Nick did the same to Warrick, then glanced at the cops who he had told to go with Warrick. "You too,"

--

Greg was personally afraid of Gil at the moment. He was unnerved by the fire he saw in Gil's eyes. He had only seen that look once. The first time Sara had been kidnapped. "This place is uh… big. Should we split up?"

"No," Gil shook his head. "We split up, that's less help for each other and more chances that we could confuse friends for foes and get our hope up too much,"

Greg blinked. That wasn't like him at all. _No quote from some poet or something?_ _He's REALLY angry. _"Did you hear from Brass yet?"

Gil shook his head.

Greg sighed. "Grissom, let's just… breathe for a sec, okay? I'm sure they're fine," he swallowed hard, seeing the glare Gil sent his way. "…Or let's just go with your approach,"

Gil didn't say another word. He just led the group down a hallway.

--

Cassandra let out a sharp exhale as she ran halfway up a flight of stairs, hearing more footsteps. She silently prayed it was one of the CSIs, cops or Sara. However, the footsteps weren't familiar. "Great," she muttered, then looked around, seeing a bar right above the first or second step going down the stairs. _It was Hollywood, but if this works, Greg, I'm getting Sara to kiss you for forcing me to watch Mission Impossible 2 despite Cruise. This better work._ When the footsteps got close enough, she took in a sharp breath, then jumped up and grabbed the bar, then swung her legs out when she got into the hallway and collided with the person who was just about to pass her. However, she landed hard on the ground so she was winded briefly. Ow. _And that's why cheerleading never worked out for me._ She turned around to see who she had knocked over, and out, for that matter, then frowned, seeing it was one of the new cops to the force. She cursed under her breath and was just about to smack him to wake him up when she heard a gun being cocked behind her, and Ed's voice. "Freeze," she winced at the order_. Caught. Damn it all to Hell. _


	17. Something Dear

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews. I don't own CSI, blah blah blah. Well, this is the last chapter of this fic next to the epilogue. Nick fans are going to kill me... Review, please. It'll encourage me to update faster, which would help with this ending... heh.**

Moments before:

Jake was just about to turn one corner when something ran into him at full speed, the bounced back, gun drawn, ready for anything, except what he saw. Sara was staring at him, mouth agape. "Sara!" he stepped forward and gave her a hug. "Thank God you're okay!" he quickly stepped aside so Catherine wouldn't trample him when the redhead spotted her friend.

Sara gave Catherine a hug as well, then looked from her to Jake. "You find Cassie yet?"

Jake shook his head. "You've seen her?"

Sara nodded. "We had to split up since someone was coming towards us… she went one way, I went the other. Who knows where she could be, now. I mean, I-" she shut up, hearing a distant mumble.

The trio exchanged looks, then Jake put his gun back up. "Both of you, stay here," he ordered, heading down the hallway.

--

Present:

"Turn around… slowly,"

Cassandra winced again, and then her eyes flew open. What the hell was she thinking? She was out of that room, wasn't she? She could take _one_ guy. Without another thought, she brought her elbow back into Ed's stomach. She was pissed off that she missed her main target, but she was relieved that she missed a moment later because she knew the grunt of pain that had come from Ed… and it was far from Ed's. "Nicky?!" she spun around.

Nick looked up at her. "Cass?!" He put his gun back immediately.

"NICKY!" she launched herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck.

Nick wrapped his own arms around her. "It's okay, I gotcha, you're safe now," he reassured her, then pulled back for a moment. "Listen, Cass, about last time, I'm sor-"

He was silenced when she pressed her lips firmly to his. It didn't take him long to kiss back. They pulled apart briefly.

Nick looked at her, confused about what she had said before and what she had just did.

"I said I couldn't do it now, didn't I?" she answered the unasked question.

Nick nodded. "Guess that works, too." He took her hand. "Come on, let's find the others. I think Jake's close." He led her towards another corner, and sure enough, Jake was there a few feet away.

The man saw them and instantly stopped, barely believing his eyes. "Cass!" he ran over to her, then spotted their joined hands. When he hugged Cassandra, he sent an 'I told ya so' look at Nick, who rolled his eyes. After he pulled way, he nodded towards the other hallway. "Exit's this way. We got Sara, so let's get the Hell outta here."

"That's the best damn idea I've ever heard from you." Nick agreed.

Jake nodded and led the way around the corner, only to see Ed blocking the way. "Who the Hell are you?"

Cassandra glanced over at where Jake's gun was and took it out of its holster. "Not anyone you would wanna meet without one of these on you."

Ed laughed. "Couldn't agree more."

"Hm." Cassandra imitated the beginning of the laugh, then went to shoot him, but a hand came out of nowhere from behind her and grabbed it.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, sweetheart."

She frowned. It was female, but it wasn't Catherine or Sara, but she knew it. It was like Nick all over again. "Lynn?!"

Jake, who had also recognized the voice of his wife, turned just as she did. "Lynn, what're you doing here?"

She smiled. "My job, sweetheart."

Jake raised an eyebrow, just as Nick and Cassandra did. "Job?" He looked down, realizing that she was now pointing the gun right at his chest. "Whoa, hold on there. What're you doing?"

"Settling an old score, Jacob. It just took me a while with getting everything set up to this point."

"What?" Jake demanded, then realization hit. "Wait. You did this?! Took them here?!" he pointed at Cassandra.

Nick and Cassandra exchanged confused looks, then looked back at Cassandra. Cassandra stepped forward. "Uh, Lynn? You're uh… not making sense… How could you have done this."

"I have connections." Lynn replied. "Thought you ought to know before I end this once and for all." She moved her arm so the gun was now pointed at Cassandra. The barrel was almost digging into the other woman's stomach.

Nick stepped forward. "Hey, hold on there, what's this about?!"

Cassandra glared at the woman "Exactly."

Lynn laughed. "Figures you would forget."

"What're you talking about?!" She demanded. "I've never been anything but kind to you! How else was I supposed to be? You're my best friend's wife."

Lynn shook her head. "Figures. You don't remember what you took from me."

"I didn't take a thing from you? Lynn, what're you going on about?!" Cassandra demanded. Honestly, she still didn't understand what was going on.

"You took my life!" Lynn replied.

"How?! When?!" Cassandra demanded.

"College, and every year since. Going on seven years with the plan."

Cassandra raised her eyebrows. _She's going on about something in college and she did this? _

Lynn nodded. "Amazing that one decision can impact a whole life, isn't it?"

Nick frowned and slowly, subtly started to reach for his walkie-talkie.

Unfortunately, Lynn caught it. "Don't bother. It's no use getting help. I have others on your group. They're on their own, as are you." She poked Cassandra more with the gun. "Get in that room. Now." She nodded behind her at an open room. "All of you."

Jake, Cassandra and Nick all looked at each other. They knew they didn't have much choice. They all went in and turned back to her. Jake, who had been attempting to process everything, turned to her.

"Seven years. We've been married five…" He didn't know just how he made the connection, but he did. "… You used me to get to her."

"It should've been obvious after a while." Lynn replied.

"All this time…" Jake breathed.

"Pretty much. Seven years of planning, sweetheart. You helped a lot, so thank you,"

"You bitch!" Jake spat, standing up.

Lynn smirked, then belted him across the face with the back of the gun.

"Jake!" Cassandra yelled, watching as he fell to his knees because of the force. She got next to him and pulled him up, supporting him with her arm and hip.

Jake looked at her before spitting out blood. "You're gonna have to do better than that to take me down, darlin'. You should know that." he told Lynn. All the feelings he had for her just deteriorated after moments. Something told him she was telling the truth. If it was one thing he knew, it was that his close friends came before people who he once knew who ended up being fake. Unfortunately, he had known a few, so he hated to imagine it, but this came as no surprise.

"Fine." She shrugged, then pointed the gun at Cassandra again. "Since what we had just went out the window, the next closest person to you is her, so I'll kill two birds with one stone."

Nick finally spoke up. "Is that really gonna solve anything, ma'am? Come on, this is about somethin' that happened in college? Is that really necessary to get upset over something that happened a while ago?" he asked. "Put down the gun, ma'am. Let's talk about this calmly, huh?"

Lynn laughed dryly. "Jake did say you were the negotiator. Too bad that stuff doesn't work on me."

Nick raised an eyebrow. She was insane. That was the only explanation. She was crazy and had kept it in check up until this time, when she had her chance at whatever she wanted to do. He didn't like the situation one bit. Hell, he knew the other two didn't, either.

Lynn studied him again. "Aw, but you're protecting your girl. I'd appreciate that and admire you if your girl wasn't who I as after."

Cassandra shook her head. "Lynn, come on. He's right. We can work this out. What is it that I uh… did to you that ruined your life? Steal an old boyfriend? Had something that you wanted to be the only one to have it?"

"Both, actually."

Cassandra raised an eyebrow. She didn't even remember seeing Lynn around college, but she figured play along as much as possible. What could she have done? Dated Ken? Miles, maybe? Wear some crazy outfit one day? "Do tell."

Lynn sighed. "Cassie… Cassie, Cassie, Cassie. That's why you should've stayed a geek like your sister compared to going into cheerleading. Cheerleaders always ignored the obvious. You see, that's where it all started. You took the cheerleading spot from me freshman year. Cheerleading was my life. I had friends from it, a boyfriend, I was popular, I had connections with all the right people. And what do you do? Take it from me. My whole life changed after that. Then you grew up and go into forensics for a job. A waste of a spot you should've been proud to show off, and you go into a field where you should keep that buried.

Cassandra stared at her, then couldn't help but snort. A cheerleading spot? She had kidnapped her and as it was playing out was going to attempt to kill her over a _cheerleading spot_? "You've gotta be kidding me."

Lynn smirked back. "I kid you not. You see, you took what was dear to me, now I'm going to return the favor." Lynn giggled. "I want my hatred to go right to your core, Cassie." she pointed the gun at the woman. "You know what's sad? I have to admit, I actually started to like you. Maybe we could've been friends if this didn't have to end this way."

"In your dreams," Cassandra spat. "Something would've come up that ended it. That's what always happens."

Lynn smirked and pointed the gun at her. "Have it your way," she cocked it.

Cassandra couldn't help but laugh. "Go ahead. Shoot me. It may make you feel better, but I swear to you, it's not gonna mean the end. It's only gonna get worse."

"Cass…" Nick warned.

"No, Nick. She wants to do something about that, let her do it." Cassandra replied. "Go right ahead. Stomach, between the eyes, whatever floats your boat. Get it over with."

Nick could barely believe Cassandra. He prayed she was getting somewhere, or at least had a plan. He wouldn't be egging the woman on if he was in her shoes.

Lynn shook her head. "Again, you fail to pay attention to the obvious. I said I wanted to take something dear to you away, just as you did for me. I said wanted to get to your core. You ruined my chance at having a happy time in my life, now I'm gonna take your possibility away from you, too."

Cassandra narrowed her eyes in confusion, trying to figure out what she meant, which put her guard down, so it alarmed her when a gunshot went off. She snapped out of her state then looked down, expecting a burning pain and a red spot somewhere, so she was even more surprised when she realized it went to her left. Her head reeled. Lynn had missed after that whole thing? She hadn't even moved like she had planned to. She had wanted to get Lynn's anger up and guard down so she and Jake could take her down. She realized if she didn't move fast, her chance would be gone. She was about to lunge when a group of thoughts came into her mind. It began to race as Lynn's words began to sink in. She wanted to take a possibility of being happy away from her. How would she do that? She froze when she found out just what Lynn's plan was. She heard something hit the ground behind her. Lynn hadn't been aiming for her. She had been aiming for… "NICK?!" she turned to her left and gulped when she saw Nick on his knees, seemed to be gasping for air. She saw a hole in his vest. The bullet had hit him square in the chest. "NICK!" she dropped to the ground as he went down fully. She slid in front of him, taking his head between her hands. "Oh God. Oh God. Oh God…"

"Good. You figured it out." Lynn smirked.

Jake paused, noticing that Lynn's attention was now fully on Cassie's reaction_. It's now or never_. With a grunt, he got up quickly and launched himself at her, tackling her to the ground. He slammed her hand against the ground, causing her to drop the gun. He turned and kicked it away. "I got 'er, Cass!"

Cassandra only risked a quick glance and nod at her friend before looking back at Nick, noticing his eyelids were drooping. "Nicky, no! Stay with me! Stay with me!" she ordered, already sobbing. She saw that blood had started trickling out of his mouth as well. "No. Not you. Stay with me, do you understand me?!" she cursed her 'Skill of being there for people when they were seconds away from death' as Jake had called it. She looked back at Jake, and saw that he was thinking along the same lines as him. She turned back to Nick. "Don't leave me," she grabbed his hand.

Nick coughed. "I don't think I'm makin' it outta this one, Cass. I think I've had it… with luck," Nick choked out.

Cassandra shook her head. "Don't talk like that. No, you're still a lucky bastard, and you're gonna stay that way.," she sobbed.

"I'm sorry Cass," Nick breathed.

"For what? Nick, no. There's nothing to apologize about!" Cassandra shook her head, then leaned over more when his eyes closed. "Nick?! No, no, no! Come on, wake up." She begged, taking off his vest. She looked over the wound. She swallowed hard, seeing that there was a very high probability that the bullet had hit something important. "No…" she breathed, then looked down at her hands, which were now covered in his blood and swallowed hard again, trying to choke back more tears. _This can't be happening._. "No, you bastard! Wake up! Wake up!" she shook him with no avail. She sobbed harder and cradled his head, resting her forehead on his, barely noticing that the door behind her burst open.

"L.V.P.D!"

Jake took over for her, seeing Brass was the one on the other side. "Boss!"

Jim looked over and froze for a moment, seeing Nick, then saw Jake, still pinning Lynn down. He looked at one of his officers. "Get her." he ordered.

The said officer went over to Jake and pulled out a set of handcuffs. He cuffed Lynn and pulled her to her feet with Jake's help. "Sir?" he looked at Jim.

"Get her in a car. I want full security on her at all times, too" Jim ordered. "Jake…"

Jake swallowed, looking at Jim. "She said you guys were being watched as well. How'd you…?"

"The gunshot scared the one holding us. Knocked him out. He's already outside. The others are coming, but…" he looked at Nick. "That may not be the wisest idea."

Jake nodded.

Lynn, who was being dragged off by another officer, looked back at Jake. "Baby, don't let them take me! You love me! Don't let them do this,"

Jake advanced on her, ignoring Jim's warning step towards him. "Listen, you conniving, evil, senile bitch. Whatever we had is now gone, and if Nick dies, I'm gonna do everything in my power to make your life _a living Hell_ so you're the least bit prepared for what you have to deal with after you die," he snarled. He reached down and took his wedding ring off. "By the way, these rings were only twenty five bucks each at a pawn shop," he tossed his ring over his shoulder so it went down a storm drain. He smirked maliciously at her, barely believing what he had just done himself. He barely remembered ever being angry as he was as he was at the moment.

"You BASTARD!" Lynn screamed at him.

He ignored her.

The officer started dragging her away. Lynn dug her heels into the floor to have him stop briefly so she could face Cassandra, who hadn't even moved from her position, hunched over Nick. "It's like you said, Sidle. It's not over." She snarled.

"Watch me care." Cassandra replied, standing up and walking between Lynn and Nick's body, as if preventing further damage.

With a good hard tug, the other officer, now joined by Jake, dragged her outside just as Gil and Sara hurried in

"CASSIE!" Sara threw herself at her sister when Cassandra slowly made it to her feet. Sara hugged her tightly. Cassandra hugged her back with equal vigor. They hugged like that for a while until Jake came back in and touched Cassandra's back, which made her turn to him and also hug him.

Sara looked over her sister, then frowned when she saw red on Cassandra's arms, hands and chest. "Cass, you're bleeding… and crying," she added, seeing Cassandra's eyes were still glossed over.

Cassandra opened her mouth to reply, then found she couldn't and pressed further against Jake, crying into his shoulder.

Jake looked at Sara, catching the woman's confused look. "…It's not her blood," he murmured, then nodded at Nick, who was now being put onto a gurney by two EMTs.

It took Sara a couple of extra minutes to see what Gil did right away when he walked in. "Oh my God… Nick… what happened?"

Cassandra shook her head, finally able to speak. "Lynn shot him. She made it seem like she was gonna shoot me, then said that she was gonna take away something dear to me, then shot him,"

Both Gil and Sara made similar noises that were between a gasp and sharp inhale.

Sara hugged her again and Gil put a hand on her back to comfort her. "It's gonna be okay. He's a strong C.S.I." Sara assured her. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Cassandra didn't have the heart to argue.

The group got out of the building, but their cars as well as ambulances and bystanders were still around outside. Cassandra changed her shirt to try to lessen the image of Nick lying in front of her bleeding out of her head, because she knew it wasn't going to leave her for some time. However, moments later she was already up on her feet, searching for Nick. One of the EMTs practically had to wrestle her into a seat to examine her, despite her arguing that she was fine. She finally gave in and let him do his job and clean her up, but during the time, her attention was focused on a young, pretty pregnant blonde woman in the crowd of bystanders. She was looking around frantically and looked terrified. When the EMT dismissed her after bandaging her up, Cassandra went over to the woman. "Can I help you?" There was just something about her that spoke volumes.

The woman whimpered. "My husband. I don't understand. I looked for him. Checked his cell phone. He's in there somewhere. Is he okay?"

Cassandra frowned. "I can find out for you. What's your name?"

"Claire. Claire Richmond."

Cassandra froze.

"_What's your name… full name?" _

"_William "Bill" Richmond."_

She looked down after the conversation with Bill came back to her. "He was telling the truth." She murmured.

"What?" Claire asked.

"Uh… nothing. Just wait here, okay? I'll see."

Claire nodded.

Cassandra walked off, and timing couldn't have been better, because she met Jim, who was dragging Bill behind him about halfway through her trek back to her people. "Bill!" she hurried over to him.

Bill went wide-eyed. "Miss. Sidle! You're okay!"

Jim paused. "Wait, this is Bill?"

Cassandra nodded.

"I've been trying to tell you that!" Bill insisted.

Jim cleared his throat. "Then I'm sorry. It's just my job. I can't believe the words of suspects much."

Bill nodded after a moment. "I understand."

"Good." Jim nodded before walking away.

Cassandra looked at Bill. "I guess I really do owe you thanks."

Bill shook his head. "Don't thank me. I should've helped you earlier than I did."

"But you still helped me anyway." Cassandra insisted.

Bill blushed. "How're your friends? I take you met up with them."

Cassandra frowned. The image of Nick was back and as intense as before. "One of them got shot… I don't think he's gonna make it."

Bill opened his mouth. He looked genuinely upset. "I'm so sorry."

"You didn't pull the trigger." She replied, then forced a smile. "Hey, I have something for you."

"Huh?" Bill asked.

She took his hand and led him towards the crowd, but the second the man got a glimpse of blonde hair, he had already took off running to see his wife. She smiled when he hugged her. She turned back, hearing gravel crunch behind her. It was Jake approaching her.

He sighed, stopping beside her. "…Hey."

"Hey."

He looked down. "They're uh… taking Nick to the hospital. Warrick's already in the ambulance, but he and I asked the driver to wait a minute for you to go with them. They're waiting for you now."

She smiled at him and a new set of tears formed. She hooked her arms under his, and he pulled her fully against him before kissing her cheek. "Take care of yourself. Don't worry too much." He instructed.

She nodded. "You too. Don't do anything stupid. You may be down a wife, but you still have a bunch of friends and family who love you and will be lost without you."

"Wouldn't have it any other way, sis." He assured her before squeezing her once more. "Go on. I'll catch up later."

It was her turn to give him a kiss on the cheek before she murmured her thanks and headed for the ambulance that Warrick was sitting in.

Jake watched her go. "… Hang in there, Nick. Hang in there for her. You're the best damned thing that's ever happened to her. Don't screw that up and leave her." He mumbled before heading towards Jim.


	18. My Immortal

Jake sighed and looked at the small crowd of people clad in black. Thankfully, the rain that had plagued the funeral service had cleared up a few minutes before, and the service could go on with the attendees a little more happy then they were before. "You see… this is why I hate being outgoing… people always count on me to make the speeches after the first couple of ones, and we're all bawling to begin with…." He looked down, then back up. "…Here it goes, then… We're here to pay tribute to a man everyone here felt safe calling a true friend. He was loyal, friendly, and most importantly, brave. Sometimes that bravery landed him in situations that we know we wouldn't have been able to make it through… He also landed himself in quite a bit of trouble,"

A few people managed to chuckle at the comment.

Jake waited for the chuckles to die down before looked around again, ready to continue. He shook his head and shifted around, leaning on the podium. "I barely knew the guy, but he made it easy to become friends with him. He was charismatic… when he was in a room with you, you couldn't help but feel good. I know that's what he did to me. He did that for all of us, come to think of it. "

There were several murmurs of agreement.

Jake nodded. "Another man who can back up that statement is another one we all know, love, and respect. Jim, I heard you wanna talk? Get up here before I start cryin'."

More chuckles, but not many.

Jake took his seat beside Cassandra. She smiled at him and patted his thigh, then Cassandra looked to the side when she felt someone squeeze her shoulder. She smiled, seeing who it was. It was one of The Vegas Crime Lab's "Damned-Lucky-Miracle", Max. He was the crime lab's "miracle" because he had woken up the day after Lynn's arrest, brightening the mood slightly.

The blond had his hand on her shoulder, smiling weakly. 'You okay?' he mouthed.

She nodded, then watched as Jim got up to take his turn to talk. She looked over her shoulder at Catherine, who also looked up and smiled weakly and nodded at her. Cassandra looked back at the podium as she heard Jim let in a sharp inhale before getting back down to his seat.

Before anyone knew it, the funeral had come to an end and everyone had gone their separate ways, but the CSIs, as well as Jake and Jim stuck together and had aligned their cars next to each other. A portion of the team leaned on Cassandra's 4x4, waiting to regroup. They all tensed up when they saw Conrad coming their way. Cassandra had met him the night of Lynn's arrest, and like everyone else, had joined in with hating every fiber of his being, because the way he perceived the incident, it seemed like it was good that Nick had gotten shot. That didn't fly too well at all. Jim nearly threw a punch at Conrad, but Jake had held him back, but within seconds, had thrown the punch to Conrad's jaw himself. He was shocked as well as relieved when the older man let him off with just a warning. However, judging by the look Conrad was giving Jake, he wasn't too thrilled that it was all he gave. Jake just grunted before leaving, not wanting to deal with him.

Conrad looked at the others and opened his mouth. It took everyone a moment to realize he was addressing them. "I'm sorry for your loss," he mumbled, then walked away.

It also took the team a while for them to realize that he had actually comprehend what he said. Everyone looked down in silence. Gil was the only person who let out an audible "Thanks" to the man. That was yet another thing that surprised everyone, since Sara had left yet again after she and Cassandra were rescued. It still depressed Gil a bit, so he had barely spoken unless it was totally needed or had to do with a case.

"Yeah… hey, uh… was I the only one who saw Brass speak? I think he was crying,"

Cassandra turned to the person next to her. "What, have you turned into Hodges, now? It's a funeral, people cry at funerals."

"Hey!" Hodges objected.

Both of the arguers ignored him.

"I know that, _Cassandra_. I'm just pointing out that it's weird for him!"

"I know that, _Nick_. I just don't think that's quite fair. You would want people crying at your loss during your funeral, wouldn't you? Need I remind you this could have been you three months ago?" she asked her boyfriend of two months.

Nick smirked and shrugged it off. By some miracle, the doctors had managed to handle the gunshot he had received and patched him up well. After about a week in the hospital and several follow-ups, he was back to normal, save for the scar he had gotten from the ordeal.

"Thank you, Cassie,"

Everyone jumped slightly, not expecting to hear Jim behind them.

Jim nodded at them, then looked around. "Can we uh… can we get outta here? I' m never one for funerals… before, during or after."

"Amen to that." Jake nodded, joining them again. "Sorry. Had to talk to Becca Connors. Steve left behind her and three kids… God, I'm gonna miss that guy." He mumbled of the dear friend who he had lost two days before. The man who's funeral they were all at, because Steve was new to the force and had gotten close to each and every one of them to make the transition easier.

"Yeah," Everyone nodded, heading towards their respective cars. Nick, Cassandra, Jim and Jake were in one, Gil, Catherine and Warrick were in another. They all stared filing into their return ride without another word.

* * *

**A few months later:**

Cassandra practically kicked open the doors leading into the main hallway of the crime lab. She was both mad at Nick and herself. A few days earlier, Nick had been questioned by some lawyer during a hearing involving one of his cases. For some reason, her name had come up and the lawyer had practically interrogated him about their relationship, and even if she hadn't been with him, how it possibly affected the case. Nick had apparently defended it right off the bat, saying that she was already looking for another job in the field to go along with the "no dating coworkers" rule. Of course, it was true and she was looking for a job, but it wasn't that issue that had her angry. It was the fact that he had gotten home and asked her why she loved him and why she was in the relationship. Her reply was slapping him and telling him never to ask that again, because "he knew damn well that she loved him for who he was and what others thought didn't matter". She hadn't spoken to him since, and that was where the anger at herself came in. It was his birthday and he knew she was still mad, so he got up a few minutes before she did, just so she didn't have to deal with him, according to Greg. Right after the younger man told her that, he had hugged her to try and lessen the blow. It didn't help much since she felt awful right away, being that she had forgotten it was his birthday as well as the fact that he felt she didn't want to see him. She had far too much on her mind that night. She nearly cried when Catherine had brought in his birthday cake and when she smiled at him, he returned a weak smile and looked away. As if it couldn't get worse, a few seconds later, he was called off to a case and went off without another word.

"Miss. Sidle!"

She turned around, hearing Ray Langston, the newest member of the CSI team calling her. "Oh, hey. How many times have I asked you to call me Cassie, Dr. Langston."

He chuckled. "And how many times have I told you to call me Ray."

She smiled. "Fair enough. What's up?"

Ray's smile faded. "Well, it's Nick…"

Her own smile disappeared. "Oh my God. Please tell me he's okay. Did something happen to him?!"

Ray put his hands up. "No, no. Well, he's just upset… he knew the victim, Hayley, today, as you probably knew by his reaction… he's beating himself up over it… a lot. I figure he may want to see you."

She raised her eyebrows. "Right now, I don't know."

"What, with your fight?" Ray asked.

Cassandra looked at him. "How'd…?"

He smiled. "Once Greg and Hodges know, everyone knows."

She laughed. "Good point. Where is he?"

"Locker room."

"I'll see him. Thanks." She started heading towards the said location. When she got there, her heart just about broke, seeing him sitting on one of the benches, crying. "Oh, Nicky…" she hurried to his side and sat down beside him.

Nick looked at her. "Hey, Cass," he mumbled weakly, then sniffled and looked away.

She frowned. "Nick, baby, come here," she sat down next to him and looped her arms around him. "Hey… you want me to tell Riley to try tomorrow for that breakfast?"

"I don't know, Cass… as if I haven't put you through enough in the past few of days, and now I'm not even botherin' to apologize… now this throwin' me for a loop… I'm sorry." he whimpered the last bit since he started crying again.

"Hey, hey… I overreacted, okay? You really cared for Hayley… I remember you talked about her and now you lost her, and losing Warrick earlier… you don't need me mad at you. Now I know you're gonna blame yourself for the whole thing, so shut up, and if that doesn't work, fine, I forgive you. Now cheer up. You're gonna make me cry." she kissed his shoulder.

Nick laughed weakly and took her hand, holding it there, but then stopped and let out a sob again.

Cassandra frowned. "Hey, what's wrong, now?"

He looked up at her. "The first day I met Hayley, after I told her what was going on 'cause she wouldn't leave me alone when I didn't… we got to talkin'… told me things were gonna start lookin' up…" he took her hand again and squeezed it. "Two days later I met you."

"No," she rested her head on their hands. "Come on. Honor Riley's breakfast thing. She'll kill you if you don't. I'll settle for making you lunch." she took his hand and led him out of the room. "Hey, Riles! He's set for that breakfast!" she called, seeing the blonde.

Riley joined them halfway. "That works!" she smiled weakly at Nick. "You gonna be okay?"

"I'll be fine." Nick nodded.

Riley's smile widened, then she looked at Cassandra. "You sure you don't mind I'm taking your man out?"

"No. Just make sure you two behave, okay?" she teased, then looked at Nick, then gave him a peck on the lips. "I have some news later, okay? Figure you need it."

Nick blinked. "You're scarin' me now. Should breakfast wait? I can-"

"No. Have fun." She gave him another kiss, then waved as Riley dragged him in the other direction. She laughed, then turned around and headed for Grissom's old office that was now shared by almost all of them to see what Greg was up to. However, she was intercepted by Catherine, who was grinning ear-to-ear. "That's not creepy at all."

Catherine ignored her, then grabbed her hands. "You owe me big, sister!"

"For what?" the other woman asked, then blinked when Catherine hugged her. "Cath, really. It's creepy now."

"I think I have a job for you." The woman replied.

"Which is?" Cassandra asked.

Catherine just kept grinning at her.

"Out with it, Willows!" Cassandra growled.

"Well, maybe if you'd give her a chance, she'd tell you, Sidle!"

Cassandra froze. She knew that voice. A grin much like Catherine's spread on her face, and before she knew it, she had turned and launched herself at the owner of the voice, with every intention of hugging the life out of him.

**A/N: (runs from the people who thought Nick was dead in the beginning) The sad thing is, I planned that. Anyways, that was originally going to be a two-part epilogue, but I put them together. I may change that later. Yes, that last bit was from "Turn, Turn, Turn". Well, anyway, that was the conclusion of "I've Just Seen a Face". Obviously, the sequel is in the works as well. I'd like to thank all my readers and reviewers for putting your time into reading this. You're the best. **

**Until next time, **

**PCl**


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